Public Spending and Real Exchange Rate Instabilities and Growth in Africa : Evidence from Panel Data

The paper investigates the causes of Africai¯s poor growth performance. It therefore focuses on the strand of literature that highlights the role of policy instability and uses the dependent economy model as the main theoretical framework. Results from the empirical work indicate that public spending instability increases real exchange rate instability, which in turn exerts a negative impact on both investment and total factor productivity. Further, the empirical investigation suggests partially that real exchange rate appreciation contributes to the decline of sectors with important positive externalities, thereby leading to persistent productivity losses and weak economic growth.