Biblio

The paper examines the relationship between colonial experience, corruption, political
instability and economic growth. The methodology is based on a standard neo-classical
production function that was expanded to include dummy variables for English, French, German
and Portuguese effects on economic growth. The paper also considers the effects of the colonial
experience on efficiency measured by the capital-labor ratio and by the error variable from the
regressing per capita GDP on the capital-labor ratio. The results were mixed for the capitallabor
ratio and positive for the error coefficients. Sub-Saharan African SSA is rife with political
instability, corruption, and slow economic growth that might be a reflection the legacy of the
colonial powers. The study demonstrates that the colonial presence had some effects on political
instability and corruption. Economic growth is explained by capital-labor ratio, and colonial
presence with mixed results. We infer from the empirical results that capital deepening is
important to economic growth in SSA and that former colonial powers exert a lingering mixed
influence on economic performance. Given that, the paper recommends SSA seek ways to
increase their capital-labor mix and to purpose policies that reduce political instability and
corruption as a strategy for long-term economic growth.