The Oxford Handbook of the Economy of Cameroon

Cameroon's suboptimal economic experience since independence (1960) sheds light on broader issues of Africa's development narrative, and provides valuable economic and policy knowledge. While Cameroon's large informal economy is diverse and resilient and rooted in old business traditions, its formal economy has exhibited low productivity and employment growth for over 60 years. This has brought anger, disappointment, and violent conflict in several regions of the country.

The Oxford Handbook of the Economy of Cameroon examines the reasons of Cameroon's unsatisfactory economic performance and draws lessons from successful development experience to help tackle these issues. The Handbook provides a critical assessment of the history, patterns, and strategies of economic development in Cameroon, and outlines new approaches to economic enquiry for prosperity and social change. Through Cameroon's governance story, the handbook analyzes the evolving conceptions of economic policy, takes stock of intellectual progress, documents the challenges of implementation, and outlines the intellectual and policy agenda ahead.

For a developing country increases in per capita income arise from advances in technology arise from closing the knowledge and technology gap with those at the frontier. And within any country (especially one like Cameroon), there is enormous scope for productivity improvement simply by closing the gap between best practices and average practices. Standards of living can therefore be improved through the implementation of pertinent learning strategies.

In this Oxford Handbook of the Economy of Cameroon, an international team of leading development economists and researchers address the wide range of issues facing Cameroon and provide guiding principles on how best the country (and other developing nations) could move human, capital, and financial resources from low- to high-productivity sectors in a constantly changing global economy.

Célestin Monga, Visiting Professor of Public Policy, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government

Célestin Monga is Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Faculty Associate at the Center for International Development (CID) Harvard University, and Fellow at the Harvard University Center for African Studies. He is also Distinguished Professor of Economics, Finance, and Governance, at the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa (2021-2023)). He is part-time Professor of Economics at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Research Professor at Peking University's Institute of New Structural Economics. He held various board and senior executive positions in academia, financial services, and international development institutions, serving most recently as Managing Director at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vice-President and Chief Economist of the African Development Bank Group, and Senior Economic Adviser/Director at the World Bank Group.

Introduction
1. The Economics and Poetics of Sorrow, Célestin Monga
Part I: Context, Legacies, and Mindsets
2. The Cameroon Economy: Historical Overview, John Mukum Mbaku
3. Cameroon as Part of Central Africa's Political Economy, Andreas Mehler
4. The Interplay Between Colonial History and Postcolonial Institutions: Evidence from Cameroon, Marie Christelle Mabeu and Roland Pongou
5. The Political Economy of Ethnicity, Célestin Monga
6. The Political Economy of Reform Consensus (or Lack Thereof) in Cameroon, Constant Lonkeng
7. The Homo Economicus in Cameroon: A View from Below, Ambroise Kom
8. Untold perspectives about Cameroon's Economy, Fabien Nkot
Part II: Economic Structure and Structural Transformation
9. Monetary and Multidimensional Poverty in Cameroon: Measurements, Determinants and Policy Implications, Francis Andrianarison, Bouba Housseini, and Christian Oldiges
10. Cameroon's Economic Assets and Production: Documenting and Analyzing a Mismatch, Fulbert Tchana Tchana
11. The Economics of Infrastructure in Cameroon: State, Challenges, and Policy Reforms, Paul Noumba Um and Théophile Bougna
12. Structural Transformation and Productivity Growth in Cameroon, Désiré Avom and Yselle Malah Kuete
13. Economic Diversification in Cameroon: A Trade-DSM analysis, Jean-Marc M. Kilolo, Martin Cameron, Antonio Pedro, and Jean-Luc N. Mastaki
14. Cameroon: Trade Costs, Trade Facilitation, and Regional Integration, Zakaria Sorgho
15. The Political Economy of Contemporary Youth in Cameroon, Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, Sarah C. Giroux, and Michel Tenikue
16. Cameroon's Labour Market Dynamics and Prospects, Bouba Housseini and Brahim Boudarbat
17. Cameroon's Informal Labour Market, Ebenezer Lemven Wirba, Fiennasah Annif' Akem, and Francis Menjo Baye
18. Drivers of Earnings Inequalities in Urban Cameroon, Christian Zamo-Akono and Simon Alain Song-Ntamack
19. Education: The Hypothesis of Negative Returns, Bernadette Dia Kamgnia and Cyrille Bergaly Kamdem
20. Early Human Capital Accumulation and Decentralization, Guy Tchuente
21. Comments on Decentralization in Cameroon, Roger B. Myerson
22. Determinants of the Performance of Education System: The Role of Institutions, Issidor Noumba
23. Health Outcomes and Health Care Financing in Cameroon, Augustin Ntembe
24. Economic Evaluations of Health Financing Programmes, Eric Tchouaket Nguemeleu, Stephanie Robins, Émilie, Belanger, Drissa Sia, and Isidore Sieleunou
25. Agriculture Transformation, Martin Fregene and Gracia Kahasha
Part III: Macroeconomic Policies and Institutional Practices
26. Fiscal Policy Effectiveness through the Lenses Useful of Government Consumption, John Nana Francois and Andrea Mata
27. Fiscal Decentralization, Entrepreneurship and Firm Productivity in Cameroon, Théophile Bougna and Pierre Nguimkeu
28. Public Debt: Beyond Accounting, Célestin Monga
29. Withholding Trust: Business Taxpayers and the Value-Added Tax in Cameroon, José-María Muñoz
30. The CFA Franc: Financial Sector and Economic Growth in CEMAC, Aloysius Ajab Amin
31. Monetary and Financial Sector in Cameroon: Structure, Performance and Vulnerabilities, Jacques Landry Bikai, Guy Albert Kenkouo, Patrick-Nelson Daniel Essiane, and Moustapha Mbohou Mama
32. Financing Small and Medium Enterprises in Cameroon, Regina Tawah
33. Female Entrepreneurship in Africa: Characteristics and Determinants in Cameroon, Ahmadou Aly Mbaye, Fatou Gueye, and Nancy Benjamin
34. Models of Governance in Cameroon's Public Administration, Viviane Ondoua
35. The Economy of Corruption in Cameroon's Cartoons, Christelle Amina Djoulde
Part IV: Looking Forward
36. The Analytics of Natural Resource Management, Eric Bahel, Octave Keutiben, and Didier Tatoutchoup
37. Testing the Dynamic Efficiency of Extraction of Non-renewable Resources, Didier Tatoutchoup, Octave Keutiben, and Eric Bahel
38. Oil Revenue Management: Cameroon's Experience, Octave Keutiben, Didier Tatoutchoup, and Eric Bahel
39. Comparing Non-Renewable Resources Stocks and Capital Goods, Johnson Kakeu
40. Electricity Supply and Manufacturing Exports, Ismaila Amadu and Epo Boniface Ngah
41. A Blueprint for Employment Creation, Célestin Monga
42. The Economics of Migration and Remittances: New Opportunities, Nadege D. Yameogo
43. Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics in Cameroon: Challenges, Benefits and Potentials Applications, Samuel Fosso Wamba and Maciel M. Queiroz
44. The Economy of Humanitarianism, Cilas Kemedjio
45. When Kamerun Will Awaken¸Daniel Etounga-Manguelle