African Economic Conference (AEC)

The 2012 Conference is organized around the theme: Inclusive and Sustainable Development in Africa in an Age of Economic Uncertainty. The Conference comprises plenary and concurrent sessions. The plenary sessions will feature presentations and discussions by prominent academics, policy makers, business and opinion leaders, as well as representatives from development organisations who all share a deep passion for the development of the continent and have unique perspectives on how it can be achieved.

The concurrent sessions will feature presentations of papers by scholars and development practitioners from the African continent. These high quality analyses will contribute to our understanding of the challenges facing inclusive and sustainable development in Africa and the options that exist for addressing these challenges in light of the prevailing uncertainty in the global economic environment.

Policy-oriented papers that are linked to the overall theme of the conference are of particular interest. Papers that address the following other themes are also welcome:

Economic growth, poverty reduction and inclusive development.
Economics of sustainable development including sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
Food and nutrition security and the prospects for a double Green Revolution in Africa.
The changing role of macro-economic and structural policies in Africa.
Private sector development and employment generation.
Challenges to economic, social and environmental sustainable development and implications for the post-2015 agenda.
Deprivation and inequalities in income and non-income measures of welfare.
The role of foreign direct investment, trade, regional integration and new economic partnership.
Strengthening Africa’s economic institutions, building infrastructure and expanding markets for the poor.
Technology transfer and innovation for inclusive and sustainable development.

Accepted papers should not have been published prior to the conference. Some papers presented at the conference will be considered for a special edition of the peer reviewed journal, the African Development Review. A prize for the best paper presented at the conference, selected by a panel of distinguished experts, will be announced at the closing ceremony.