TY - JOUR

T1 - Beyond Structural Adjustment

T2 - State and Market in a Rural Tanzanian Village

AU - Waters, Tony

PY - 1997/9

Y1 - 1997/9

N2 - Depending on who you listen to, structural adjustment has led to either rapid economic growth or a decline in living standards within Africa. And while in different places both circumstances are probably true, neither scenario describes what I have seen in rural Tanzanian villages since 1984. Despite the predictions about the effects of structural adjustment, my impression is that life goes on with only marginal changes in the daily economic activity of villagers. Economically, things are a little better on some fronts: the clothing is nicer, there are a few more bicycles, etc., but the changes are not dramatic; the daily economic activity is still hoe-based agriculture. It is also unclear whether such incremental improvements would not have occurred given any other macro-economic policy. Indeed in such villages, past macro-economic policies including Ujamaa socialism, market capitalism or even mercantile colonialism can also be correlated with one economic improvement or the other. But as with these past cases, unraveling the relationship between correlation and causation is a tricky business. This paper does this for structural adjustment policies in a single village. This is done by comparing economic activity and relationships in 1985, before structural adjustment policies were adopted, and in 1995-6, well after the policies had had a chance to take effect.

AB - Depending on who you listen to, structural adjustment has led to either rapid economic growth or a decline in living standards within Africa. And while in different places both circumstances are probably true, neither scenario describes what I have seen in rural Tanzanian villages since 1984. Despite the predictions about the effects of structural adjustment, my impression is that life goes on with only marginal changes in the daily economic activity of villagers. Economically, things are a little better on some fronts: the clothing is nicer, there are a few more bicycles, etc., but the changes are not dramatic; the daily economic activity is still hoe-based agriculture. It is also unclear whether such incremental improvements would not have occurred given any other macro-economic policy. Indeed in such villages, past macro-economic policies including Ujamaa socialism, market capitalism or even mercantile colonialism can also be correlated with one economic improvement or the other. But as with these past cases, unraveling the relationship between correlation and causation is a tricky business. This paper does this for structural adjustment policies in a single village. This is done by comparing economic activity and relationships in 1985, before structural adjustment policies were adopted, and in 1995-6, well after the policies had had a chance to take effect.

KW - Sociology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937262679&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.2307/525157

DO - 10.2307/525157

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84937262679

VL - 40

SP - 59

EP - 89

JO - African Studies Review

JF - African Studies Review

SN - 0002-0206

IS - 2

ER -