Discuss the importance of state management in front-end development and compare popular state management libraries like Redux, MobX, and Context API.

State management is crucial in front-end development for maintaining consistent application state across components. Redux provides a predictable state container with a single source of truth and strict unidirectional data flow, suitable for large applications. MobX offers a more flexible and reactive approach, allowing automatic updates through observables. Context API, built into React, is simpler for managing global state but may lead to performance issues if not used carefully. Each library has its strengths, depending on the application’s complexity and requirements.