Joe Studwell on Africa, Asia, and What Development Actually Requires

About this episode

Tyler interviews Joe Studwell about his insights on development in Africa and Asia, exploring various economic and social factors.

When Tyler called Joe Studwell's How Asia Works "perhaps my favorite economics book of the year" back in 2013, he wasn't alone: it became one of the most influential treatments of industrial policy ever written. Now Studwell has turned his attention to Africa with How Africa Works . Tyler calls it excellent, extremely well-researched, and essential reading, but does Studwell's optimism about the continent hold up under scrutiny? Tyler and Joe explore whether population density actually solves development, which African countries are likely to achieve stable growth, whether Africa has a manufacturing future, why state infrastructure projects decay while farmer-led irrigation thrives, what progress looks like in education and public health, whether charter cities or special economic zones can work, and how permanent Africa's colonial borders really are. After testing Joe's optimism about Africa, Tyler shifts back to Asia: what Japan and South Korea will do about depopulation, why industrial policy worked in East Asia but failed in India and Brazil, what went wrong in Thailand, and what Joe will tackle next. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full vi…

People in this episode

Host: Tyler

Guest: Joe Studwell

Topics covered

• development
• industrial policy
• Africa
• Asia
• education
• public health
• manufacturing

Keywords

• development
• industrial policy
• Africa
• Asia
• education
• manufacturing
• public health
• irrigation
• charter cities
• economic zones

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: How Asia Works, How Africa Works

Places: Africa, Asia, Japan, South Korea, India, Brazil, Thailand

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