Jean-Paul Azam is Professor of Economics at the University of Toulouse and at the Institut Universitaire de France.

• Preface; Figures; Tables; 1. Introduction and overview; Part I. Unrecorded Trade in Goods and Currencies: 2. The welfare implications of unrecorded cross-border trade; 3. Parallel trade and currency convertibility; Part II. Foreign Exchange Constraints: 4. Dollars for sale: inflation and the black market premium; 5. The public debt constraint in the CFA zone; 6. Currency crises, food, and the cola nut effect; Part III. Longer-term Growth in African Countries: 7. Exchange rate, growth and poverty; 8. Export crops, human capital and endogenous growth; 9. Ethnic rents and the politics of redistribution; Conclusion; References; Index.

'Jean-Paul Azam provides a refreshingly different and credible approach to analysing macroeconomic policy outcomes, one in which the roles of individuals and institutions receive serious attention in explaining policy outcomes. He shows that case studies can be a powerful tool for making rigorous analysis interesting. The discussions of currency convertibility, exchange rates, inflation, public debt, currency crises, growth, poverty, human capital, ethnicity and the politics of redistribution are all done in relation to the actions or inactions of clearly identifiable economic agents in countries that the author has, sometimes, personally observed. This is certainly a most welcome contribution to the analysis of African economies.' Ernest Aryeetey, Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana