Author Archives: eba

You should know by now that African economies are growing. Almost every continental analysis leads with impressive data: economic growth rates hover at an impressive 6%; combined GDP will hit $2.6-trillion by 2020; foreign direct investment is flocking in to areas that were once no-go zones for the average international investor. It’s a compelling, feel-good story – and it just might be true. This week, the Institute for International Finance...

Africa’s emergence is the new consensus. For the second time in a just few months, a major international journal has run a cover illustrating new found optimism about the continent. After The  Economist’s mea culpa (correcting its previous assessment of a “hopeless continent”), TIME magazine just re-ran an earlier title: “Africa rising”. This is no fluke: Africa’s economies are growing and the continent is much wealthier today than it ever...

In his book, Civilisation: The West and the Rest, economic historian Niall Ferguson contended that Western Europe was able to out-develop other regions of the world because it developed what he described as six killer applications that others lacked. These were competition, consumerism, democracy, medicine, science and work ethic. There is no doubt that in the period leading to the industrial revolution European countries exceeded in these areas, at least...