Prospects for Africa's Exports

Abstract

Two conflicting views have been presented in this Journal recently concerning the necessity for African countries to restructure their economies and reduce their dependence on exports in order to attain development.1 Rather than attempt to enter into the controversy in detail, I propose to describe the dominant characteristics of the world markets for the major exports of sub-Saharan African countries, which render export expansion by itself unlikely to contribute to higher standards of living for the broad masses of the population.