Introduction

Abstract Data quality has improved over the 20 years, and there has been a rise in cutting-edge research on African economies as well as behavioral studies with well-designed field experiments. A combination of data quality and new techniques of analysis has given researchers unique advantages to explore frontier issues that were unthinkable a few decades ago. Availability of timely, comprehensive, credible, and reliable data leads to sound economic policy arising from robust analytics. Evidently, Africa national statistics are often characterized with measurement errors, poor data management, and weak institutional capacity to handle the analysis and hence incoherent development strategies. Moreover, when reliable data are collected from large household and labor force survey and census, much of them are not used in the policymaking space. African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) is playing a critical role in facilitating the use of large data sets for microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis emanating from African countries. The institution has contributed significantly to economic policy environment in Africa, but the continent remains under-researched. The contributors of this book consist of economists, lawyers, statisticians, and data technology experts. The chapters in this book have assessed the opportunities, challenges, and risks existent in the current state of data generations, sharing protocols, and consistency of legislations.