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Guinea and the Ivory Coast– Contrasts in Economic Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Michael O'connor
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Extract

Guinea and the Ivory Coast are neighbouring, former French colonies in West Africa. Both gained their independence about the same time – Guinea in 1958 and the Ivory Coast in 1960. The contrast in the subsequent economic performance of these two countries with closely corresponding resource endowments is remarkable. The Ivory Coast's gross domestic product has grown at an annual rate of about 8 per cent in real terms. The Guinean economy has stagnated. A review of the economic record of both since independence suggests that three factors were mainly responsible for their strikingly unequal performance: (1) differences in governmental philosophies of mobilisation and organisation of resources; (2) differences in the extent to which foreign markets shaped domestic economic expansion; and (3) differences in the role of foreign entrepreneurs in the national development effort.

Type
Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , October 1972 , pp. 409 - 426
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

Page 410 note 1 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, World Tables (Washington, 1971), table 4.Google Scholar

Page 410 note 2 Ibid. tables 4 and 7.

Page 410 note 3 Ibid. table 4.

Page 412 note 1 Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Indices of Agricultural Production (Washington, 1970), pp. 15–16.Google Scholar

Page 413 note 1 Source: Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Yearbook, 1969 (Washington, 1971), p. 883,Google Scholar and earlier editions. The 1966 figure for iron ore is an estimate.

Page 413 note 2 Ministère du plan, Les Comptes de Ia nation (Abidjan), 1966–1967 and 1969.Google Scholar

Page 413 note 3 I.B.R.D., World Tables (1971), table 4.Google Scholar

Page 413 note 4 Suret-Canale, Jean, La République de Guinée (Paris, 1970), pp. 312 and 329Google Scholar; and I.B.R.D., World Tables (1971), table 4.Google Scholar

Page 413 note 5 Chambre d'industrie de Côte d'Ivoire, Principales industries ivoriennes (Abidjan), 06 1969.Google Scholar

Page 414 note 1 Suret-Canale, op. cit. pp. 316–17.

Page 416 note 1 Source: International Monetary Fund, Direction of Trade (Washington), annuals 1960–1964, 1964–1968, 1966–1970.Google Scholar

Page 416 note 2 Sources: Banque centrale des états de l'Afrique de l'ouest, Indicateurs économiques ivoriens (Paris), 02 1970Google Scholar, and U.S. Department of State, Agricultural Situation Report (Washington), 04 1971, p. 6.Google Scholar

Page 417 note 1 Sources: U.N. Statistical Yearbook (New York), 1961 and 1970Google Scholar, and I.B.R.D., World Tables (1971),Google Scholar table 4. The levels of education follow U.N.E.S.C.O. definitions: first, second, and third levels correspond to instruction provided by elementary school, secondary school, and college.

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Page 419 note 2 Ibid. Prior to 1964, data on French assistance is available only for the 15 French franc area countries taken together. The figure for the Ivory Coast during 1960–3 is assumed to be one-fifteenth of the total amount of French assistance, which was $1, 274.7 million. Since the Ivory Coast enjoyed better-than-average relations with France, this is no doubt an underestimate of the aid which she received.

Page 420 note 1 International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Yearbook (Washington, 1969), vol. xxx.Google Scholar

Page 420 note 2 Cf. Nisbet, Charles T., ‘A Marxist Claim Reconsidered’, in Southern Economic Journal (Chapel Hill, North Carolina), XXXVII, I, 07 1970.Google Scholar

Page 421 note 1 I.M.F., International Financial Statistics (Washington), 1962–1968.Google Scholar

Page 421 note 2 The C.F.A. franc was devalued II per cent in August 1969, following similar action by the French.

Page 422 note 1 I.B.R.D., World Tables (1971), table I.Google Scholar

Page 423 note 1 The New York Times, 16 Desember 1968.

Page 424 note 1 Agricultural Situation Report, 01 1970, pp. 3–4.Google Scholar

Page 425 note 1 Cf. Due, Jean M., ‘Agricultural Development in the Ivory Coast and Ghana’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), VII, 4, 12 1969, pp. 637–60.Google Scholar