Economics

In this chapter, I broach conceptualizations of what Africa is in the field of Economics, i.e., the sphere of erudition that deals with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth. Concomitantly, African economies are investigated in terms of their condition as regards material prosperity. Thus, the major research question probed in the chapter is logically the following: What conceptualizations have been offered about what Africa is in the academic discipline of Economics? The immediate answer to this question is that many conceptualizations have been tendered vis-à-vis what Africa is in the field of Economics that range from the positive to the negative, albeit the latter are more preponderant. Obviously, it is beyond the scope of this chapter to deal with all of these conceptualizations. Therefore, for the sake of brevity, the following three major conceptualizations are examined here: (1) Africa as an economic periphery, (2) African countries as mono economies, and (3) Africa as an important source to the world economy.