I wonder if EA or something similar was mostly made up of say people from various countries in Africa with more ties & influence over local settings then would we see different and/​or more ambitious interventions or business interventions or even political pushes from the community?
Like for example would we see interventions to create more trade between specific neighboring countries or the funding of political campaigns?
Or like if I were the economics nerd I am in a country in Africa I’d be pushing politically to create a stronger African Union that could create larger common markets of consumer demand & use the consolidated demand to bargain for things that would increase technology transfers & then push for forced-export lead industrial policy like what several Asian countries did (https://​​byrnehobart.medium.com/​​lessons-from-the-east-asian-economic-miracle-5f8d0f2354d9), essentially trying to replicate China or South Korea’s rise but for a lot of Africa.
For anything trade & industrial policy related, I find the Atlas Of Economic Complexity (https://​​atlas.hks.harvard.edu/​​countries/​​156) an interesting resource. I like the categorizing of countries into different economic strategies & the prioritized list of suggested new product opportunities for countries. Could be very useful for anyone exploring the markets & business opportunities of developing countries.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to create the proper common market with free mobility for people across the 55 African Union nations. Despite being signed by the vast majority of countries back in 2018, implementation has been extremely slow, in my view largely because political elites beholden to domestic business interests lack the ambition to bring it into existence. A functioning intra-African common market would also be complementary to, rather than a substitute for, building export industries that serve high-income countries. Given how high the upside is, I think it is worth investigating whether tractable advocacy approaches could meaningfully increase the probability of effective AfCFTA implementation.
Okay @danielyu & @Arno what about the secondary part of this with the Atlas Of Economic Complexity resources?
Wouldn’t it be helpful to use some of these tools/​data to come up with the highest potential impact ventures to support?
Like maybe one could look for what African countries have the highest similarity scores /​ adjacent capabilities to start building more generics pharmaceutical industries to support the region’s global health goals.
Or what countries may be most able to develop very low-cost meat alternatives /​ plant-based protein products for better animal welfare?
Like are there opportunities for donors to support both private business in low income countries & other high impact cause areas simultaneously?
Nightmare, many people have tried and failed to boost trade internally, and it will happen (and already does) but it’s easier for me to export to EU or US than it is to neighbouring countries due to both tariff and non-tariff barriers. Very political and will be a while until that’s finalised. Also, the market sizes are just tiny in comparison, you don’t have large economies nearby to take all your product, middle class is limited, and so then you’re very limited in the number of products that you can sell into it. Myriad other reasons
I wonder if EA or something similar was mostly made up of say people from various countries in Africa with more ties & influence over local settings then would we see different and/​or more ambitious interventions or business interventions or even political pushes from the community?
Like for example would we see interventions to create more trade between specific neighboring countries or the funding of political campaigns?
Or like if I were the economics nerd I am in a country in Africa I’d be pushing politically to create a stronger African Union that could create larger common markets of consumer demand & use the consolidated demand to bargain for things that would increase technology transfers & then push for forced-export lead industrial policy like what several Asian countries did (https://​​byrnehobart.medium.com/​​lessons-from-the-east-asian-economic-miracle-5f8d0f2354d9), essentially trying to replicate China or South Korea’s rise but for a lot of Africa.
For anything trade & industrial policy related, I find the Atlas Of Economic Complexity (https://​​atlas.hks.harvard.edu/​​countries/​​156) an interesting resource.
I like the categorizing of countries into different economic strategies & the prioritized list of suggested new product opportunities for countries. Could be very useful for anyone exploring the markets & business opportunities of developing countries.
Comment copied from comments on: https://​​forum.effectivealtruism.org/​​posts/​​tnDQPGFW8vRFiAhrN/​​what-three-years-of-program-delivery-in-west-africa-taught
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to create the proper common market with free mobility for people across the 55 African Union nations. Despite being signed by the vast majority of countries back in 2018, implementation has been extremely slow, in my view largely because political elites beholden to domestic business interests lack the ambition to bring it into existence. A functioning intra-African common market would also be complementary to, rather than a substitute for, building export industries that serve high-income countries. Given how high the upside is, I think it is worth investigating whether tractable advocacy approaches could meaningfully increase the probability of effective AfCFTA implementation.
Okay @danielyu & @Arno what about the secondary part of this with the Atlas Of Economic Complexity resources?
Wouldn’t it be helpful to use some of these tools/​data to come up with the highest potential impact ventures to support?
Like maybe one could look for what African countries have the highest similarity scores /​ adjacent capabilities to start building more generics pharmaceutical industries to support the region’s global health goals.
Or what countries may be most able to develop very low-cost meat alternatives /​ plant-based protein products for better animal welfare?
Like are there opportunities for donors to support both private business in low income countries & other high impact cause areas simultaneously?
Nightmare, many people have tried and failed to boost trade internally, and it will happen (and already does) but it’s easier for me to export to EU or US than it is to neighbouring countries due to both tariff and non-tariff barriers. Very political and will be a while until that’s finalised. Also, the market sizes are just tiny in comparison, you don’t have large economies nearby to take all your product, middle class is limited, and so then you’re very limited in the number of products that you can sell into it. Myriad other reasons