African Lion Cities: Deflating the MDG success of East Asian Tigers to a Worldwide Success Story of Dense Urban Areas with Greater Capacity

Abstract

In analysing the latest cross-country and household survey data, the paper finds that the MDG performance of African coastal capitals and island states is more like that of East Asian Tigers (which also have relatively small land size) compared to the national averages in mainland African countries. This is largely explained by the ease of the public sector to deliver basic social services in highly concentrated, urban areas. Policy responses—depending on the idiosyncratic conditions in each country—range from improving urban planning to ensure the absorptive capacity of cities is not overstretched, while increasing agricultural productivity, to building up the systemic public sector capability to better manage policies, systems, processes and results in order to improve service delivery not only in urban areas but also on a national scale.