UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 38, Page 4
August 6, 1992
New journal focuses on African economic issues

     Ten finance professors of African origin, who were educated and
remained to teach in the United States, gathered at a Financial
Management Association (FMA) meeting in October 1988 and discussed
concerns about their homelands.
     From this informal meeting emerged the African Finance and
Economics Association (AFEA).
     "It was our way of giving back something to the countries which
had supported us in obtaining an education. There was a need to
establish an open forum where African economic issues could be
discussed," said Chris Ngassam, assistant professor of finance, a
founding member and vice-president of AFEA.
     By December of 1988, the group had drawn up bylaws and organized
under the umbrella of the Allied Social Science Association (ASSA),
which had a broader focus than FMA. An advisory board was formed,
which included knowledgable leaders in economic development from
Africa and the United States.
     It was an idea whose time had come, and AFEA received
encouragement from African leaders, and United Nations and World Bank
officials, among others. A conference was held and the concept of the
organization "caught fire," with the membership rising from 10 to
approximately 400, Ngassam said.
     "One of our primary objectives was to disseminate financial and
economic information that could be used by African leaders,
institutions and others involved in African development who may not
have economic backgrounds," Ngassam said.
     "We decided to publish a journal with articles by first-rate
experts in African economic affairs but in laypersons' terms so that
the journal could be of practical use to African leaders on local,
national and international levels."
     The result was the Journal of African Finance and Economic
Development (JAFED) which is sent to key African leaders and to AFEA
members. Ngassam is editor-in-chief of the publication, which had its
first issue this spring. Richard Hoffman, assistant professor of
business administration, is associate editor of management , and Araya
Debessay, professor of accounting, is on the editorial advisory board.
     Ngassam admits that starting a professional journal is a
challenging task. The authors, many of whom he contacted personally
for articles, are "eminent scholars and policy makers, most of whom
have lived and worked in Africa."
     Articles in the first JAFED range from "Monetary Management in
Sub-Saharan Africa: Key Issues" by James Duesenberry of Harvard
University and Malcolm F. McPherson of the Harvard Institute for
International Development to "Education, Infrastructure and
Instability in East African Agriculture" by Dhaneshwar Ghura of North
Carolina State University and Richard E. Just of the University of
Maryland.
     The University and the College of Business and Economics were
supportive of the new journal, Ngassam said, and faculty members gave
advice and encouragement.
     AFEA is on the move with a conference scheduled for January as
part of the ASSA annual conference. A future issue of JAFED will deal
with international business in Africa, and another is planned on
economic adjustment programs and their implications for growth , with
Ajay Chhibber, lead economist in the office of the director of the
Western African Department of the World Bank as co-editor.
     "We hope the journal will make a difference in encouraging
African nations to cooperate in economic projects and in solving some
of the problems they face," Ngassam said. "Other countries are forming
economic blocs such as the European Community, the East Asia bloc and
the United States, Canada and Mexico. As economics become more global,
African countries have to help themselves and each other to become
competitive and become less dependent on European or American aid.
African nations also need to have a better understanding of how to
encourage investment and industry in their countries, and that is what
we are trying to provide," Ngassam said.
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure