Abstract
The chapter discusses the capitalist economic reforms that took place in sub-Saharan Africa. They may be defined as a movement from government-controlled economics, to liberalized economy. The former is represented by the Keynesian philosophy, which was adopted by most of the sub-Saharan nations immediately after independence. The latter is founded on free-market philosophy, which is centered on freedom. This transformation is motivated by the assumption that contrary to government-controlled economy, free market guarantees both economic success and political freedom. The chapter further discusses concrete transformation of the African content through the introduction of principles suggested by the Washington Consensus.
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These philosophers are often regarded as leaders of classical liberal philosophy economics.
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A conference titled ‘Latin American Adjustment: How Much Has Happened?’ was set to discuss this new theory. The famous paper that was presented by Williamson was ‘What Washington Means by Policy Reform’ (Williamson 2008).
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Tomann, H. (1988). The Debt Crisis and Structural Adjustment in Developing Countries. Intereconomics, 23(5), 203–207.
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See Appendix II for some reforms in Malawi.
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Easterly, W. (2000). The Effect of IMF and World Bank Programs on Poverty. Mimeographed. The World Bank, Washington, DC.
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Kayange, G.M. (2020). Capitalist Economic Reforms in Africa. In: Capitalism and Freedom in African Political Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44360-3_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44360-3_7
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