Africonomics: Rethinking how we measure and manage African economies

Stephen Grootes speaks Bronwyn Williams, a leading futurist and trend analyst about the book “Africonomics - The history of Western ignorance” by Bronwen Everill.

Listen to the interview in the audio player below.

For decades, debates about African economic performance have been framed through Western lenses.

In Africonomics, historian Bronwen Everill argues that this framing is not only incomplete, but actively distorts how African economies are understood and governed.

Everill’s views is that Western efforts to “fix” African economies have repeatedly failed because they begin from the assumption that Africa should look more like Europe or the United States. From abolition-era reforms to modern development finance, she traces a long history of interventions driven by good intentions, rigid economic models and a striking disregard for African economic traditions.

Rather than offering a technical economic manual, Africonomics is a work of economic history with direct relevance to today’s policymakers, investors and development institutions.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, Bronwyn Williams a leading futurist and trend analyst says Africonomics is a work of economic history with direct relevance to today’s policymakers, investors and development institutions.

"It does cover some of the things you might expect, especially from critiques of western influence in Africa and the global south, looking at critiques of colonisation, but also making a kind of nuanced argument about some of the original sins that has set the African continent back."

- Bronwyn Williams, leading futurist and trend analyst

"The more interesting arguments in the book speaks to some of the narratives and stories about our assumptions about Africa and how that in turn influences our policies, even well intended policies by NGO's and multinationals..."

 - Bronwyn Williams, leading futurist and trend analyst

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.