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This paper provides an empirical assessment of the driving forces behind structural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa, and to further access the role of structural reforms in accounting for cross-country differences in transformation. Evidence from this paper reveals that country specific fundamentals, institutions and policy reforms as well as governance and fiscal reforms are the key drivers of transformation in the region. A set of policy strategies is proposed to engender sustained transformation and development in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general policy prescription for resource-rich countries is that, for sustainable consumption, a greater percentage of the windfall from resource rents should be channeled into accumulating foreign assets such as a sovereign public fund as done in Norway and other developed but resource-rich countries. This might not be a correct policy prescription for resource-rich sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, where public capital is very low to support the needed economic growth. In such countries, rents from resources serve as an opportunity to scale-up the needed public capital. Using a panel data for the period 1990-2013, we find in line with the scaling-up hypothesis that resource rents significantly increases public investment in SSA and that this tends to depend on the quality of political institutions. Moreover, we also find evidence of a positive effect of public investment on economic growth, which also depends on the level of resource rents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have struggled to understand the role of investment in the slow growth of post-Independence sub-Saharan Africa. Existing research has largely relied on national accounting data, which suggests low returns on investment in the region. This article uses data gathered during fieldwork to investigate the quality of the investment data in the national accounts of Nigeria, Africa's most populous economy. It proposes a new investment series which can be compared to those in Nigeria's national accounts for 1976-85. It provides an alternative view of investment and productivity during the country's crucial oil boom period, when Nigeria had significant funding available for investment but this investment did not result in long-term economic growth. Data are drawn from construction surveys, publicly listed and privately held construction company financial records, and industry publications. The new series suggests that for many years of the oil boom, approximately twothirds of what was recorded as having been investment in Nigeria's national accounts was not investment at all. Much of this was 'ghost construction', projects paid for but never completed. This indicates that actual investment was far more productive than has previously been appreciated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]