Structural Adjustment Reconsidered: Economic Policy and Poverty in Africa

The often emotional debate over the impact of structural adjustment on the poor in Africa has been confused by the complexity of economic reforms and their inconsistent implementation, the diversity of prior conditions, and confounding effects of external shocks. Going beyond simple 'before and after' comparisons, in this 1998 book Professors Sahn, Dorosh, and Younger isolate from other factors the effect of specific policy measures associated with adjustment programs. The analysis draws primarily on the experience of ten African countries: Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Tanzania, and Zaire. It combines description of policy reforms and survey data, and quantitative simulations using multi-market and computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. The authors suggest that contrary to common belief, adjustment policies do not harm the poor in Africa. Reforms in fact usually benefit the poor slightly, but alone are insufficient to reduce poverty significantly.