SebKrantz/PhD_Dissertation

Africa's Economic Transformation: A Big Data Perspective # Africa's Economic Transformation: A Big Data Perspective **Doctoral Dissertation in Quantitative Economics** *University of Kiel*, in Partnership with the *Kiel Institute for the World Economy* To be clear: the CC0 license only applies to the latex file used to assemble papers into a dissertation. The dissertation itself and constituent papers may be shared but not modified and must be cited appropriately. ## Abstract Africa is a continent of great economic potential. With a population of 1.5 billion at a median age of 19 today, projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, vast natural and mineral resources, yet a share of only ~3% in global GDP and trade, Africa's economic transformation must materialize to provide opportunities for its youth and to foster a more balanced, equitable, and secure world order in the face of shared global challenges. The African Union's Agenda 2063 sets an ambitious path to achieve this, and with the formal enactment of a continental free trade area, a substantial landmark has been passed. However, trade and regional value chains (RVCs) must pick up significantly to generate the desired economic transformation, supported by industrialization and increases in productivity. For this, macroeconomic and financial stability are needed alongside industrial/RVC policies and large-scale investments in infrastructure and human capital. This doctoral dissertation contributes to our understanding of these critical ingredients. It documents the continent's progress in macroeconomic stability and investigates its drivers. It also dissects Africa's integration into global and regional value chains, eliciting progress, benefits, potentials, and challenges towards/of regional economic integration. Last but not least, it zooms in on the continent's infrastructure, utilizing geospatial big data and modern structural and empirical methods to provide evidence on local and global investment potentials at unprecedented spatial detail and scale. By combinin …