Statistical Tragedy in Africa?: Evaluating the Database for African Economic Development

What do we know about economic development in Africa? The answer is that we know much less than we would like to think. This collection assesses the knowledge problem present in statistics on poverty, agriculture, labour, education, health, and economic growth. While diverse in origin, the contributors to this book are unified in two conclusions: the quality and quantity of data needs to be improved; and this is a concern not just for statisticians. Weaknesses in statistical methodology and practice can misinform policy makers, international agencies, donors, the private sector, and the citizens of African countries themselves. This is also a problem for academics from various disciplines, from history and economics to social epidemiology and education policy. Not only does academic work on Africa regularly use flawed data, but many problems encountered in surveys challenge common academic abstractions. By exploring these flaws, this book will provide a guide for scholars, policy makers, and all those using and commissioning surveys in Africa. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Development Studies.

Morten Jerven is an Associate Professor in the School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, and Associate Professor in Global Change and International Relations at Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås, Norway.

Deborah Johnston is a Reader in Development Economics at SOAS, University of London, UK. She has published widely on poverty, HIV, nutrition, and labour in African countries, and published a recent book, Economics and HIV: The Sickness of Economics (Routledge, 2013).