Economic reform and the poor in Africa1996

Has economic reform hurt the poor in Africa? There is little disagreement that most African countries faced an economic crisis in the 1980s, characterized by worsening budget and balance-of-payment deficits, stagnant growth, and slow improvement in general indicators. Far less consensus exists, however, on the appropriateness and effectiveness of the macroeconomic and sectoral reforms these countries undertook in response to these conditions.

More contentious still is the subject of this book: whether the poor are hurt, in absolute and relative terms, by the economic policies designed to restore macroeconomic stability, reinvigorate markets, and rationalize resource allocation in Africa. Critics claim that, while orthodox adjustment policies may make sense at the macro level, they have...