An Unconventional Introduction to Development Economics

Rather than present development economics by introducing and explaining theories and concepts, this volume introduces the topic through the lens of a business investor exploration. Using the 52 developing countries of Africa as background, the reader is led to explore and analyze the major aspects of their economic environments over a combined period of 15 years. In so doing, various mechanisms, concepts and theories are utilized and they are introduced and explained at every step. This way, the reader becomes acquainted with the intricacies of development economics in a practical manner that involves real-life economic and business scenarios. Not only do they learn and grasp economic concepts and theories, they also learn how these work and when to deploy them. They should come away with a vivid understanding of development economics and developing countries characteristics, all of this experienced in an engaging, vibrant, graphically attractive and user-friendly process.

The book starts out with the basic premise that economic concepts are too often portrayed as nuclear science equivalent subject matter: they are presented as overly complicated and become perceived as an area that is closed off to anyone without an advanced degree in complex sounding fields like Game and Bargaining Theory and Experimental Quantitative Mathematical Econometrics. Whereas, even though some reasonable foundation in economic concepts is necessary and useful, a good chunk of economics (especially macroeconomics) is accessible to anyone with the interest and curiosity. It this book’s intent to introduce macroeconomics to the reader and show that economics can indeed be a good friend with interesting stories to tell. The book has been devised as an innovative way of understanding basic applied macroeconomics in a quantitative context rather than theoretical burrowing, all this done in the background of a development economics framework.

Possibly the first things noticed about the volume are its vivid colors and exciting appearance. That is deliberate. A pivotal plank on which the project was built is that it had to be invigorating and inviting to read. It had to win the first challenge, which is to pull the observer inwards — quickly — and to keep them there. In this light, of particular consequence are the incisive and pithy commentaries that accompany the analyses outcomes on every page.

The second pivotal plank was this: that the project’s aesthetics and engagement with the reader must not compromise its depth, exhaustiveness and thoroughness. That its contents, side-by-side with their engaging presentation, must be of the highest and most rigorous academic and analytical standards. We are confident the book works well on both counts, firmly supported and kept confidently upright by those two pivots.