West African Worlds provides a critical assessment of social, economic and political change in Africa’s most populous and arguably most externally focused region. With an emphasis on globalisation and modernisation, case studies and commentary are integrated throughout to highlight the concerns and issues of the region. Enriched by an impressive mix of West African voices, this text combines theory and application with policy and practice to address socio-economic change, the pursuit of livelihoods, and development within West Africa.

The Economic Development of West Africa in the Twenty-First Century is a book of economic theory that seeks to explain empirically how West African nations can develop their respective economies in order to not only increase the living standard of their population but to also stimulate a regional economic growth. The book subsequently presents the introduction of a new economic model to determine how economic growth could potentially occur in West Africa on a long-term basis. To demonstrate his analysis, the author has combined the elements of public choice theory, which emphasize on the political features of an economy and those of the Solow Growth Model, which focus on generating economic productivity. The combination of the elements of these two economic tools is designed to determine, not the outcome, but the process whereby economic growth in West Africa could be stimulated in a long-time period.

The book provides a detailed analysis of the causes of West Africa’s current economic high-growth episode and proposes ways to extend it sustainably. It examines the potential role of regional integration through the establishment of a common currency union and of other policy options that can enhance economic growth. The authors suggest appropriate methods of coordination between macroeconomic policy and industrialization to achieve higher economic growth and also examine why pro-poor strategies have not been successful. The book underscores the challenges and opportunities that will arise from the structural change to the region’s economies resulting from the necessary investment in manufacturing exports, ICT and infrastructure, which are key vehicles for extended growth. Readers will learn how the region can better reach its developmental goals by securing and perpetuating political liberty and transactional freedom for all its citizens.

Why has Africa remained persistently poor over its recorded history? Has Africa always been poor? What has been the nature of Africa's poverty and how do we explain its origins? This volume takes a necessary interdisciplinary approach to these questions by bringing together perspectives from archaeology, linguistics, history, anthropology, political science, and economics. Several contributors note that Africa's development was at par with many areas of Europe in the first millennium of the Common Era. Why Africa fell behind is a key theme in this volume, with insights that should inform Africa's developmental strategies.