Understanding the Determinants of Growth in Developing Countries: The Example of China-Sub-Saharan Africa Economic Relationships
Résumé
The economic relationship between Sub-Saharan Africa and China intensified from the 2000s onwards. A key debate is as to whether these relationships have contributed to the economic growth of African economies – a debate that also has political economy implications in view of the criticisms of China’s presence in Africa. The determinants of growth highlighted by economic theory usually refer to physical capital (investment), human capital, innovation (including industrialisation), economic policies (e.g., trade openness), and institutions. Interestingly, the empirical impacts of China-Africa economic relationships may not fully illustrate the theoretical findings of the growth literature. It is argued that China’s economic relationships – trade, investment – have been drivers of growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, but that China’s impact on African growth has been limited by the specific modalities of these relationships: e.g., the economic weight of China makes it a player with which African countries cannot compete, notably for their own industrialisation that is threatened by Chinese industrial products; a substantial part of these relationships relies on primary commodities with low value added and hence wealth creation; and the contribution of China to the consolidation of African institutions remains limited, though economic theory views institutions as core determinants of growth. A subsequent argument is that China may not differ from Africa’s previous economic partners, e.g., Western countries, which have also exhibited mixed contributions to Africa’s growth.
