The anatomy of fragile states in Sub‐Saharan Africa: understanding the interrelationship between fragility and indicators of wellbeing
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Abstract According to most classifications, Sub‐Saharan Africa is the region of the world with the highest presence of fragile states. In this paper we examine the relationship between fragility and poverty, suggesting that countries may become trapped in a vicious circle of fragility and low levels of wellbeing. We consider fragility as a continuum and begin by reviewing available measures. These show the high presence of fragility in Sub‐Saharan Africa and allow the more fragile countries to be identified. There is seen to be a strong association between fragility, poor growth performance, and lower wellbeing in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Building on the strong evidence for the two‐way relationship between economic growth and poverty, we present an analysis of how the vicious circle linking poorer welfare outcomes and fragility may be able to be broken. We argue that building successful institutions is key here, and this can be enabled by specific policy interventions that are both poverty reducing and productive.
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The fragility index value has less robust results than an individual indicator as used in this study.
“In panel data study observed that the fragility index value has less robust results than an individual indicator as used in this study [44,45,71].”
From Do institutional governance and state fragility affect institutional quality in Asian economies? (2023) · cites this paper as [45]
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Do institutional governance and state fragility affect institutional quality in Asian economies?
Miao, D., Gillani, S., Abbas, H. S. M., & Zhan, H. (2023) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15467 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“However, Scholars use these FSI to analyze the institutes’ economic growth, which delivers public services to citizens [45].”
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- Authors
- McKay, A., & Thorbecke, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- McKay, Andy
- ORCID
- McKay, Andy
- Venue
- Review of Development Economics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-05-03
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1073-1100
- ISSN
- 1363-6669 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9361
- OpenAlex
- W2942641515
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 7.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Locations
- Review of Development Economics (publishedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- African Economic Research Consortium
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › General Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Natural Resources and Economic Development
- Social Sciences › Development › International Development and Aid
- Keywords
- fragile states, poverty, well-being, economic growth, vicious circle, institutional quality, sub-Saharan Africa, poverty reduction policy
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