Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa and import substitution policy

Vol. 34 No. 1 (2014)

Jan-Mar / 2014
Published January 1, 2014
PDF-English
PDF-English

How to Cite

F. Mendes, Ana Paula, Mário Augusto Bertella, and Rudolph F. A. P. Teixeira. 2014. “Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa and Import Substitution Policy”. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 34 (1):120-38. https://centrodeeconomiapolitica.org.br/repojs/index.php/journal/article/view/264.

Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa and import substitution policy

Ana Paula F. Mendes
Millenium Challenge Account Cape Verde (MCA-CVII).
Mário Augusto Bertella
PhD Professor at FCLAR/UNESP.
Rudolph F. A. P. Teixeira
Analyst at Eletrobras.
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 34 No. 1 (2014), Jan-Mar / 2014, Pages 120-138

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the process of import substitution in Sub-Saharan Africa. The process of industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa occurred in two phases: a first step, even very early during the colonial regime began around the 1920s and ended in the late forties; a second phase of industrialization began in the late fifties and gained momentum in the sixties, when import substitution was implemented more widely. Although these countries were the last to embark on the strategy of import substitution, they followed the same steps of Latin American countries, and as the structural domestic and external constraints were too strong, the failure of the policy of import substitution arrived early and the negative impact on these economies had a greater magnitude. 

JEL Classification: N67; O14; O25.


Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa import substitution industrialization