What is Africa's ideal development model? with Ewout Frankema

Our Long Walk

What does it mean for African economies to be dynamic? How did the Mineral Revolution reshape the continent's economic trajectories? Can Africa’s internal markets be the foundation for future prosperity? And, crucially, why should Africa chart its own development path, distinct from Asia’s?

In this episode of the Our Long Walk podcast, Johan Fourie and Jonathan Schoots discuss these and many more questions with Ewout Frankema, chair of Economic and Environmental History at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Ewout is an economic historian who studies long-term economic development in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, focusing on the historical roots of global inequality.

Some of Ewout’s mentioned work:

The African Model: Asia’s path may not work, but there is an alternative

From the Great Divergence to South-South Divergence

Why Africa is not that poor

Subscribe to Johan's newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.

This podcast is produced with the help of Voice Note Productions. Our producer is Vasti Calitz with editing done by Andri Burnett. Kelsey Lemon provided helpful research assistance.