Did the Cold War Produce Development Clusters in Africa

Résumé

This paper examines the lasting impact of Cold War alignment on African economic development. To determine alignment and reduce the number of potential outcomes under consideration, we introduce a non-cooperative game of social interactions where each country chooses its bloc based on its predetermined bilateral similarities with other members of the bloc. We are able to use the celebrated MaxCut method to exactly identify the equilibrium partition. The alignment predicts UN General Assembly voting patterns during the Cold War but not after. We find that the alignment produces two clusters of development outcomes today that reflect the Cold War’s ideological divide. Western-aligned African countries have greater inequality coupled with deeper financial penetration, while there is no difference in the level of income per capita between the two groups of countries.

Mots-clés

Guerre froide, Alliances politiques, Afrique, Blocs, Pôles de développement,; Equilibre de Nash fort, Théorie du paysage.;

Codes JEL

C62: Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium
C72: Noncooperative Games
F54: Colonialism • Imperialism • Postcolonialism
F55: International Institutional Arrangements
N47: Africa • Oceania
O19: International Linkages to Development • Role of International Organizations
O57: Comparative Studies of Countries
Y10: Data: Tables and Charts