Conclusion

Abstract

This study began with an inquiry into the role of the state in economic development in Ethiopia. It argued that in the past, Ethiopia did not develop its economy because predatory elite disdained economic activity and were preoccupied with war-making and religious piety. Subsequent modernizing elites were not successful in achieving economic development because they were preoccupied in nation-building and the project of integration as evidenced by many secessionist, irredentist wars. Second, it argued that whether nations were first or late industrializers, those that successfully transformed their economies had some important common elements.