Book
Mining for Change

Natural Resources and Industry in Africa

For a growing number of countries in Africa the discovery and exploitation of natural resources is a great opportunity, but one accompanied by considerable risks. Countries dependent on oil, gas, and mining have tended to have weaker long-run growth, higher rates of poverty, and greater income inequality than less resource-abundant economies. For these resource producing economies relative prices make it more difficult to diversify into activities outside of the resource sector, limiting structural change. 

Mining for Change: Natural Resources and Industry in Africa presents research undertaken to understand how better management of the revenues and opportunities associated with natural resources can accelerate diversification and structural change in Africa. It begins with essays on managing the boom, the construction sector, and linking industry to the major issues that frame the question of how to use natural resources for structural change. It reports the main research results for five countries-Ghana, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. Each country study covers managing the boom, the construction sector, and linking industry to the resource. Mining for Change argues that good policy can make a difference and sets out ideas for policy change and widening the options for structural change.

Table of contents
  1. Overview
    John Page, Finn Tarp
  2. Understanding the boom
    Mark Henstridge
    More Working Paper | Understanding the boom
  3. Does construction limit investment?
    Martina Kirchberger
    More Working Paper | The role of the construction sector
  4. Rowing against the current: Economic diversification in Africa
    John Page
    More Working Paper | Rowing against the current
  5. The boom, the bust, and the dynamics of oil resource management in Ghana
    Ernest Aryeetey, Ishmael Ackah
    More Working Paper | The boom, the bust, and the dynamics of oil resource management in Ghana
  6. The construction sector in Ghana
    Nkechi Owoo, Monica P. Lambon-Quayefio
    More Working Paper | The role of the construction sector in Ghana
  7. Local content law and practice: The case of Ghana
    Charles Godfred Ackah, Asaah S. Mohammed
    More Working Paper | Local content law and practice
  8. Mozambique—bust before boom: Reflections on investment surges and new gas
    Alan R. Roe
    More Working Paper | Mozambique—bust before boom
  9. The construction sector in Mozambique
    António S. Cruz, Francisco Fernandes, Fausto J. Mafambissa, Francisco Pereira
    More Working Paper | The construction sector in Mozambique
  10. Local content and the prospects for economic diversification in Mozambique
    Evelyn Dietsche, Ana Maria Esteves
    More Working Paper | What are the prospects for Mozambique to diversify its economy on the back of ‘local content’?
  11. Gas in Tanzania: Adapting to new realities
    Mark Henstridge
    More Working Paper | Understanding the boom
  12. The construction sector in Tanzania
    Geraldine J. Kikwasi, Cecilia Escalante
    More Working Paper | Role of the construction sector and key bottlenecks to supply response in Tanzania
  13. Local content: Are there benefits for Tanzania?
    Mia Ellis, Margaret McMillan
    More Working Paper | Optimal local content for extractive industries
  14. Uganda’s oil: How much, when, and how will it be governed?
    Sebastian Wolf, Vishal Aditya Potluri
    More Working Paper | Uganda’s oil
  15. Construction and public procurement in Uganda
    Emanuele Colonnelli, Nicole Ntungire
    More Working Paper | Construction and public procurement in Uganda
  16. Enhancing local content in Uganda
    Ritwika Sen
    More Working Paper | Enhancing local content in Uganda’s oil and gas industry
  17. The boom-bust cycle of global copper prices, structural change and industrial development in Zambia
    Robert Liebenthal, Caesar Cheelo
    More Working Paper | Understanding the implications of the boom-bust cycle of global copper prices for natural resources, structural change, and industrial development in Zambia
  18. The construction sector in Zambia
    Caesar Cheelo, Robert Liebenthal
    More Working Paper | The role of the construction sector in influencing natural resource use, structural change, and industrial development in Zambia
  19. Local content in Zambia—a faltering experience?
    Wilfred C. Lombe
    More Working Paper | Natural resources, structural change, and industrial development
  20. Implications for public policy
    John Page, Finn Tarp
Show all