Great write-up, me and fellow economist Lipton Matthews were chatting about this exact same topic and bet a few days ago for a book that we're drafting.
I first learnt about the rise of the Ivorian economy and the instrumental role their long-time leader Félix Houphouët-Boigny played in this from a great Thomas Sowell video:
Houphouët-Boigny had ruled CÔTE D'IVOIRE as à private estate & coffee cacao speculator. The ivoirien miracle, concealed a failure to build roads, schools, hospitals and improve the entire people. Houphouët-Boigny made his country a fortified French economic fortress & a centre for French intelligence to abort national liberation in Africa .He besieged Guinée, supported dozens of coups ( espacially against Nkrumah thrown in 1965) and overthrow many leaders. The History of Côte d'Ivoire requires a movement to liberate itself from the false colonial narrative.
And why did France invest so heavily in the Ivorian economy? Because they had the peace of mind knowing that they could conduct business in the country and their assets would not be confiscated by a corrupt government. And this did not come at the expense of Ivorian citizens. The Ivorian miracle made the bottom 20% of Ivorians better off than most of Ghana’s citizens. The economy is not zero sum. Furthermore, Ghana was able to develop their economy after economic reforms despite France not being one of their top trading partners.
Africans need to get rid of the Russians and the Chinese who are buying up, taking, intimidating, corrupting some, killing the dissenters, and creating webs of debt trap diplomacy on steroids.
I made my first visit to Ghana in 1988 and was shocked at the state of things. An all wheel drive SUV was needed to navigate the potholes in Accra streets. Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings, head of state after a military coup, had only recently flown a MIG fighter under a local bridge and was probably the only head of state to ever do so. The country was going through an IMF structural adjustment programme, people were struggling and USAID was shipping thousands of tonnes of food aid to the country, especially for the north.
But Ghana now? Oh my. I wouldn’t mind living there. I have a lot of friends from Ghana and back when I was an office guy, several Ghanaian colleagues had an investment club. I asked if I could join, they looked at me with some pity and said no, because they didn’t want me to be a drag down their wins!
Great write-up, me and fellow economist Lipton Matthews were chatting about this exact same topic and bet a few days ago for a book that we're drafting.
I first learnt about the rise of the Ivorian economy and the instrumental role their long-time leader Félix Houphouët-Boigny played in this from a great Thomas Sowell video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSfJ_0Hdpz8
Informative, appropriate story. Elegantly simple - beautifully expressed as always Magatte.
Houphouët-Boigny had ruled CÔTE D'IVOIRE as à private estate & coffee cacao speculator. The ivoirien miracle, concealed a failure to build roads, schools, hospitals and improve the entire people. Houphouët-Boigny made his country a fortified French economic fortress & a centre for French intelligence to abort national liberation in Africa .He besieged Guinée, supported dozens of coups ( espacially against Nkrumah thrown in 1965) and overthrow many leaders. The History of Côte d'Ivoire requires a movement to liberate itself from the false colonial narrative.
And why did France invest so heavily in the Ivorian economy? Because they had the peace of mind knowing that they could conduct business in the country and their assets would not be confiscated by a corrupt government. And this did not come at the expense of Ivorian citizens. The Ivorian miracle made the bottom 20% of Ivorians better off than most of Ghana’s citizens. The economy is not zero sum. Furthermore, Ghana was able to develop their economy after economic reforms despite France not being one of their top trading partners.
Africa needs to be run by, and for Africans.
Africans need to get rid of the Russians and the Chinese who are buying up, taking, intimidating, corrupting some, killing the dissenters, and creating webs of debt trap diplomacy on steroids.
Beware Africa. Beware.
Curious what your thoughts are on the “East Asian Miracle” and the development thesis put forward in How Asia Works
I made my first visit to Ghana in 1988 and was shocked at the state of things. An all wheel drive SUV was needed to navigate the potholes in Accra streets. Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings, head of state after a military coup, had only recently flown a MIG fighter under a local bridge and was probably the only head of state to ever do so. The country was going through an IMF structural adjustment programme, people were struggling and USAID was shipping thousands of tonnes of food aid to the country, especially for the north.
But Ghana now? Oh my. I wouldn’t mind living there. I have a lot of friends from Ghana and back when I was an office guy, several Ghanaian colleagues had an investment club. I asked if I could join, they looked at me with some pity and said no, because they didn’t want me to be a drag down their wins!