Keith Hart, the economic anthropologist who, from his research with urban slum dwellers in 1960s Ghana, coined the term ‘informal economy’, announced his intention a couple of days ago to kick-start the writing of a book, Africa’s Urban Revolution, with a series of blog posts. The first in the series appears today, and it is an… Read More »
Motor roads, together with their rules and conventions for using them, are quite literally cultural constructions. In this sense, the road regime in large parts of the African continent is still under construction. Road-making and road use draw from North Atlantic models, but observations of the African road makes clear that beyond the surface of… Read More »
Here. The concluding paragraph: At close quarters it is hard not to warm to the man. He has a winning sense of humour and unshakeable belief in self as well as country: “I love Nigeria,” he says over breakfast. “Some people see that as a weakness.” There is also a streak of ruthlessness and a… Read More »
1. The First Law of Development Stats: Whatever our Bizarre Methodology, We make Africa look Worse 2. On the need for more critical debates on the ‘open aid data’ discourse 3. SSD on Nigeria’s decision to try Dick Cheney 4. Norway examines reports that Muhammad Yunus diverted millions of dollars of aid money from a… Read More »
Fund managers should consider African markets such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania rather than chasing crowded emerging market trades elsewhere, economist Nouriel Roubini said. “It (Africa) is risky because there is less liquidity and the governance is not ideal. But in comparison to 10 years ago when there was civil strife and unstable governments,… Read More »
If you have been following the news, you know about the shake-up, the rescue and the proposal to buy off bad loans. Reuter’s report on the current state of the industry: Two of Nigeria’s nine rescued banks are in talks with foreign investors about recapitalisation but most of the others are more likely to be… Read More »
From NEXT: A study by the USAID on the West Africa Trade Hub has revealed that the region’s transport costs is the highest in the world and remains so because the trucking market in the region is highly regulated. “The regulationof the industry deter competition that would go a long way toward reducing transport costs”… Read More »
ECAS 4 – Africa Engagements: On Whose Terms? Panel Title: Engaging the Francophone/Anglophone divide in researching Africa Panel Proposers: Ms Amy Niang, Politics and IR, University of Edinburgh Scotland Ms Muriel Cote, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh Like other scientific disciplines, African studies are situated within specific knowledge/institutional configurations; this is perhaps most… Read More »
The Economist talks to China Europe Business School’s Africa Programme Director, Kwaku Atuahene-Gima, about the reason the Chinese business school decided to establish a branch in Ghana: CEIBS has been instrumental in developing the business talent that has helped China develop,…. The Europeans and Americans were the colonisers of Africa, but there was not much… Read More »
… is the title of a recently published book by Kate Meagher of LSE’s Department of International Development, my friend and fellow student of African trade networks and informal economy. Nicolas van de Walle writes in Foreign Policy about the book: Within development circles, conventional wisdom has it that successful manufacturing sectors often develop in low-income… Read More »