The "Singapore" of Africa is already Mauritius. It's also the most similar being an island city state, already has offshore finance, massive tourism, and decently high income per person. Only thing is they are more culturally closer to India. I'm also Ghanaian, was just there a day ago. You are right about the African American tourism and creativity and relatively good education levels of Ghana compared to most of Africa. But I need to clear up some misconceptions. You are right that most people are Akan. (Pronounced "Ah-cawn" not "Ah-ken" ) But there are ethnicities under Akan - Ashanti, Fanti,Akwapim, etc. We won't kill each other over tribes, but no one identifies as Akan. They'll say "Fanti" or "Ashanti". 2. Ghana has terrible transportation networks and we have energy issues (we call it "Dumsor"). (Still better than most of Africa, but compared to Mauritius, its sub-par). 3. "The interest groups fighting for pay outs" is still a massive issue in Ghana. Most educated Ghanaians will tell you how cancerous the patronage system is. Ghana is very corrupt (again better than Nigeria and other African countries, but still corruption erodes state capacity). Ghana could be a "Singapore of West Africa" but even that is dubious. Cape Verde, the West African island state, has a better chance of being that for West Africa.
sorry, not sure what Mauritians being culturally closer to Indians has anything to do with it being a gateway ?? Irish are culturally closer to Scandinavians and Singaporeans are culturally closer to the Chinese ..capisce ?
You are right, but it's also important to notice Mauritius is not facing the Atlantic Ocean, which is a tremendous disadvantage when it comes to creating trade links with the US. A better, more natural option would be some other African country facing the Atlantic, preferably located not too far down south. Ghana has a chance there.
Great ep. Thanks for this series. Q for Noah: How do you grok with confidence? You do it much faster than I do, so a couple of tips would be appreciated. Keep up the good work, gents!
The main thing with industrial policy has ALWAYS BEEN that we need to fixate on industries that are (1) strategically important and (2) something we are economically well-suited to do. Strategic importance doesn't care whether something is occurring in the USA or in Mexico, for example. Economically good industries are a little more nuanced. I find it really funny how Noah's had several public twitter fights with Chuck Marohn over StrongTowns and infrastructure, and yet it appears they basically completely agree on smalltown development patterns.
Great comment on tax. Australia is an example of a wasteful tax system. Overtaxed to some degree, but the bigger culprit is the complexity of the system. Australia has the highest number of accountants per capita in the world ... probably as a direct result of this. These are smart people that could have been engineers, or scientists, or medical professionals, that are instead navigating the complexities of the Australian tax system.
Your Russian heritage shows quite brightly when you say government creates property rights. Here in America, God created natural rights and government protects them. You should know this already.
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These eps are great!
The "Singapore" of Africa is already Mauritius. It's also the most similar being an island city state, already has offshore finance, massive tourism, and decently high income per person. Only thing is they are more culturally closer to India.
I'm also Ghanaian, was just there a day ago. You are right about the African American tourism and creativity and relatively good education levels of Ghana compared to most of Africa.
But I need to clear up some misconceptions. You are right that most people are Akan. (Pronounced "Ah-cawn" not "Ah-ken" )
But there are ethnicities under Akan - Ashanti, Fanti,Akwapim, etc. We won't kill each other over tribes, but no one identifies as Akan. They'll say "Fanti" or "Ashanti".
2. Ghana has terrible transportation networks and we have energy issues (we call it "Dumsor"). (Still better than most of Africa, but compared to Mauritius, its sub-par).
3. "The interest groups fighting for pay outs" is still a massive issue in Ghana. Most educated Ghanaians will tell you how cancerous the patronage system is. Ghana is very corrupt (again better than Nigeria and other African countries, but still corruption erodes state capacity).
Ghana could be a "Singapore of West Africa" but even that is dubious. Cape Verde, the West African island state, has a better chance of being that for West Africa.
sorry, not sure what Mauritians being culturally closer to Indians has anything to do with it being a gateway ?? Irish are culturally closer to Scandinavians and Singaporeans are culturally closer to the Chinese ..capisce ?
You are right, but it's also important to notice Mauritius is not facing the Atlantic Ocean, which is a tremendous disadvantage when it comes to creating trade links with the US. A better, more natural option would be some other African country facing the Atlantic, preferably located not too far down south. Ghana has a chance there.
@@ivanbasiliorobainabychko5936 this is much more sensible argument ..i concur
Thanks, Noah and Erik!
Great ep. Thanks for this series. Q for Noah: How do you grok with confidence? You do it much faster than I do, so a couple of tips would be appreciated. Keep up the good work, gents!
And props for the Tassafaronga reference, Noah. Might have been the previous show, but good on you for knowing that! Best always.
i feel so smart after listening to these discussions 🙂..thanks so much for putting out such intriguing thoughts
This was a banger episode 🚀
The main thing with industrial policy has ALWAYS BEEN that we need to fixate on industries that are (1) strategically important and (2) something we are economically well-suited to do. Strategic importance doesn't care whether something is occurring in the USA or in Mexico, for example. Economically good industries are a little more nuanced.
I find it really funny how Noah's had several public twitter fights with Chuck Marohn over StrongTowns and infrastructure, and yet it appears they basically completely agree on smalltown development patterns.
Great comment on tax. Australia is an example of a wasteful tax system. Overtaxed to some degree, but the bigger culprit is the complexity of the system. Australia has the highest number of accountants per capita in the world ... probably as a direct result of this. These are smart people that could have been engineers, or scientists, or medical professionals, that are instead navigating the complexities of the Australian tax system.
Negative Income Tax is the answer, far more cheaper & efficient than a UBI.
The confidence with which Noah talks lmao
Erik doesn’t say much does he. It’s basically an interview of Noah Smith.
Agreed, I wish Erik would chime in more on all his podcasts.
Agreed but to me, it seems like he isn't knowledgeable enough in these areas to provide much of a push back. I could be wrong though.
Your Russian heritage shows quite brightly when you say government creates property rights. Here in America, God created natural rights and government protects them. You should know this already.