Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics: Proceed with Caution

Economists are among the most feared and misunderstood contributors to development studies. Many of the biggest development gaffes have been justified by a very narrow interpretation of basic economic principles—often to the horror of the academic community. As such, a reference book geared toward policymakers and development practitioners that can help to dispel myths about the opportunities for and limitations of the study of economics in Africa could have a tremendous impact on efforts to improve human welfare. Similarly, a reference book geared toward students and academics that surveys the contributions that economics research in Africa has made to the discipline could go a long way in enriching academic work and increasing the representation of Africa in economics journals.

The stated goals of the Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics are to do both of these things. In particular, the editors, according to the introduction, intended the Handbook to function as an "authoritative" collection examining the use of various economic theories and approaches within an African context and the ways in which the study of African economies has influenced the study of economics. The intended audience is equally wide ranging. The editors aimed to "bridge the gap" between the academy and policymakers and to offer a guide for a diverse readership of researchers, students, and development practitioners, including noneconomists. Certainly such an agenda would give rise to a large and diverse set of articles, and the editors chose a wide array of papers from many well-known and top-notch economists (and other social scientists) working on issues related to Africa.

I appreciate that the Handbook includes contributions from academics and practitioners with a wide range of training and experience and from institutions in developed as well as less-developed countries. But while this two-volume handbook looks like a reference, presents itself as a reference, and yields lower back pain when carried like a reference, it is not a reference book. Moreover, some of the editorial decisions and portrayals of current economic thinking lead to an inaccurate view of modern economists, economic theory, and current debates in the economics of development, which could be misleading to noneconomists or to those who are already skeptical of the field.

First, the Handbook is not set up in a way that makes it easy to navigate as a reference book. Both volume 1 ("Context and Concepts") and volume 2 ("Policies and Practices") include histories of development and narratives about specific sectors or social institutions; both volumes even include articles about the economics of marriage in North Africa. It is therefore not an easy task to find, say, all of the articles about economics of the family or all of the discussions about the history of development thought and its practices in Africa. The discussion of human capital accumulation appears, oddly, in the social economics section, and a discussion of how to conduct household research in a setting with very complex family structures is not located, as one would expect, in the methodology section. In short, if you want to learn about a specific economic topic and its applications in Africa, this is not the best source.

Second, this is not really a handbook about Africa and economics. Many of the microeconomics topics in the volume are specific to a particular time period or subtopic and do not provide a survey of the economics research or even the current state of knowledge in the field. For example, Jean-Claude Berthelemy and Josselin Thuilliez (vol. 2, ch. 27) discuss microeconomic development research related to health—including the effects of product adoption, user fees, and health information. However, this article is specific to malaria and therefore does not survey the larger literature on information economics, social marketing, or market failures...