In FP Rick Rowden writes about The Myth of Africa's Rise he expands on a point we have posted on repeatedly.In other words without a massive growth in manufacturing the continent will remain poor and backward. No amount of consumption will compensate for a lack of industrialization.He writes:
From late 15th century England all the way up to the East Asian Tigers of recent renown, development has generally been taken as a synonym for "industrialization." Rich countries figured out long ago, if economies are not moving out of dead-end activities that only provide diminishing returns over time (primary agriculture and extractive activities such as mining, logging, and fisheries), and into activities that provide increasing returns over time (manufacturing and services), then you can't really say they are developing.In response to recent boosterism articles by the Economist and Time he states:
What's striking about the two articles cited above is that they don't mention manufacturing, or its disturbing absence, in Africa. And that, in turn, confirms once again the extent to which the idea of development as industrialization has been completely abandoned in the last few decades. Free market economics has come to ...
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