Journal Article
Growth, Distribution and Environment

The main policy challenges in Zimbabwe relate to generating income growth, reducing poverty and stopping land degradation. The government attempted redistribution with growth at independence, but ran into macroeconomic unsustainability. After a period of import compression, the government now has embarked upon a liberalization program. The consequences for growth and distribution so far have been unfavorable, and the economic structure has been reoriented toward primary goods. It is hard to see this strategy as helpful in terms of poverty and land degradation. The article throws some light on the macroeconomic aspects of the development strategy using an economywide computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and evaluates the conditions for land reform to improve on distribution and environment.