Understanding Africa’s middle class
The middle classes of Africa are often idealized as spearheads of democratization and opponents of corrupt regimes. But what does the research actually say?
economics
Demystifying austerity
Government’s around the world are talking about tightening their belts. Austerity is a common economic policy, but what is it actually? On the podcast, we discuss.
Apartheid nostalgia
South Africans agree that redistribution and economic security are urgent. But will they arrive via a deepening of democracy and public accountability, or a return to authoritarianism?
Under the surface of modern economies
We need to rethink how people seek sustenance and wealth, but not divorced from their moral values, convictions, and expectations.
Italy and the colonialism of others
What foot does Italy’s neo-Fascist prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, stand on to lecture France on its monetary colonialism in Africa?
Why Africa should look East
The former executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission on Africa, makes his case as to why Africa should take advice on development politics and knowledge from Asia.
South Africa’s postcolonial winter is coming
After 29 years of neoliberal failure in South Africa, foreigners are a convenient scapegoat for a national elite that failed to redistribute wealth. This is a pattern common to post-colonial Africa.
Tricky coalitions
The challenge presented by Argentina: What is the best way to deal with global fiscal pressures in a local context of high expectations and public demands?
An uncompromising criticism of the CFA franc
The CFA franc, pegged to a strong Euro, penalizes African economies as well as regional trade and facilitates the development of Western multinationals.
Like a bad rain year
The consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for African food security and the need for greater food sovereignty.
The “alternative” money economy of Nigerian students
In Northern Cyprus, African students, many of them Nigerian, study diligently for tertiary degrees while juggling multiple income streams in a peer-to-peer system for collective survival.
Democraticizing money
Cameroonian economist Joseph Tchundjang Pouemi died in 1984, either poisoned or by suicide. His ideas about the international monetary system and the CFA franc are worth revisiting.
What’s the matter with private equity in Africa?
The nature of the business makes it hard to hold investors accountable when they do wrong.
What’s good for investors isn’t good for Africans
How Africa’s pension funds risk becoming instruments of Africa’s neoliberal takeover.
New world disorder
The world has changed significantly since the 2008 financial crisis. But the roots of today’s disorder, stretch further back than we think. This week on the AIAC Podcast, we discuss.
The promise and peril of the digital economy
How digital capitalism, despite often being framed as potential growth engine, exploits the already marginalized and reproduces inequalities and power-relations between Africans.
The United States is not a country
The US federal system is a patchwork of states and territories, municipal and local jurisdictions, each with its own laws and regulations. This complex map provides ample opportunities for shell games of “hide the money.”
Organized irresponsibility
On this week's AIAC Talk, a discussion with historian Adam Tooze on the history and future of the COVID-19 crisis.
Excavating Kazi Mataani
In the second video from our Capitalism In My City project, Dennis Esikuri talks to everyday Nairobians about the current employment opportunities in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Capitalism is a disease
Anyone who lives in fear of getting sick exists in a state of unfreedom.