Dr. Dambisa Moyo at ASEA 2014 (hopefully)

Dambisa Moyo is scheduled to speak at the 2014 African Stock Exchange Association meeting in Kenya.  This annual conference brings together stock exchange members of the Association to meet, discuss initiatives, sign memorandum of understanding to collaborate and integrate and to enjoy the culture of the nation where it is held.  These meetings can be very political and occasionally without much substance so it an improvement to have a thinker of Dr. Moyo’s caliber attend. I am so sorry to miss going this year! I am no afraid of EBOLA-although I am quite sure attendance will be thin due to that, unfortunately. It is too close to Thanksgiving for me to make the trip.

Dr. Moyo’s book Dead Aid provided a road map for economic growth that did not involve dependence on aid. In that book, she described the Chinese as a friend of Africa; that friendship creating fear in the “Western liberal consensus ”. 

More recently, she wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal describing the “Chinese Model” of state centered growth as unworkable for poorer countries seeking long-term growth.  These statements may not be inherently inconsistent but underscore the dynamics at play in the region. 

In 2009 China was a friend but by 2014 we should not be emulating them for a long-term solution to poverty. I like the refining of her advice but I am quite sure she is invited ASEA this year for her belief in a “Western liberal consensus who believe (often in the most paternalistic way) it is their responsibility to look after Africa. ”