Causal Analyses of Public Debt and Structural Adjustment

Abstract

The impact of structural adjustment program on the economic situation in many African countries can not be overemphasised. Over two decades of implementing neo-liberal economic policies by the Bretton Woods institution, it is of great importance to document the lessons learnt. This paper elicits the structural mechanism representing the intended effect of structural adjustment policies and the unintended effects observed from the implementation of the structural adjustment policies. The assumptions and hypotheses implicit in the main structural adjustment policies, as well as the observed unintended effect of the policies are clearly elicited with a causal loop diagram.