Entrenching Economic Freedom in Africa‪.‬

In the 1950s and 1960s, many Africans believed that independence would change prospects for rapid economic growth and development. First, independence implied the end of colonialism and its despotic, exploitative, and repressive institutions. Second, with the Europeans gone, Africans could now engage in democratic (people-driven, participatory, and inclusive) constitution-making to provide themselves with dispensations that reflected their customs, realities, beliefs, values, cultures, and aspirations. Third, public policy would be focused on maximizing the objectives of the indigenous peoples. Fourth, the new governments, now controlled by Africans, would provide the enabling institutional environment for effectively managing ethnic diversity. Fifth, the new post-independence governments were expected to deal with historical injustices and provide all individuals, groups, and communities with the wherewithal to participate fully and effectively in economic growth and development. Finally, the new governments were expected to restructure property rights, especially in environmental resources, and achieve equity in allocation and sustainability in exploitation. The general belief was that the new leaders would be able to restructure the critical domains, especially property rights, and produce new and more effective incentive structures. Given the extremely high levels of poverty in these countries, it was critical that the new governments provide incentive structures that encouraged indigenous entrepreneurship, as well as institutions that adequately constrained civil servants and politicians from engaging in inefficient redistributions of income and wealth.