Author Description

Staying Poor is the study of Ghana for the World Bank project on the political economy of poverty, equity and growth in developing countries. It describes and explains the course of economic and political change in Ghana over a period of 40 years since 1950. In terms of both aggregate and average measures, Ghanaians have stayed poor throughout this period. This persisting poverty is attributed chiefly to domestic politics. The study shows that the failing of successive governments was not that they were unconcerned about poverty, but that they followed policies incompatible with the comparative advantages of the country, and so forwent the economic growth that was in practice the most effective way of serving equity objectives. The work surveys a longer period than has previously been covered in such detail, places macroeconomic changes in the context of political developments, and brings out the internal political determination of economic performance.