Dambisa Moyo
Dambisa Moyo
Dambisa Moyo2 February 1969) is a Zambian-born international economist and author who analyzes the macroeconomy and global affairs. With post-graduate degrees in business, public administration, and economics from American University, Harvard, and Oxford, Moyo currently serves on the boards of Barclays Bank, the financial services group, SABMiller, the global brewer, and Barrick Gold, the global miner. She worked for two years at the World Bank and eight years at Goldman Sachs before becoming an author and international public speaker. She...
NationalityZambian
ProfessionEconomist
Date of Birth2 February 1969
CountryZambia
The western mindset erroneously equates a political system of multi-party democracy with high-quality institutions... the two are not synonymous.
The most obvious criticism of aid is its links to rampant corruption. Aid flows destined to help the average African end up supporting bloated bureaucracies in the form of the poor-country governments and donor-funded non-governmental organizations.
This is my favourite thing about being raised in Africa: we don't do labels very well; we don't do this, 'Oh, you're a Democrat; oh, you're a Republican.' Because we live in the real world.
I went into the sciences very early on, but to me, economics pervades so much more of our lives and our existence.
I had the good fortune to spend hours with my parents around the dinner table having debates on politics and economics.
China is attempting the death-defying feat, which no one has attempted in the history of the world, which is to move a billion people out of poverty. When I speak to Chinese policy-makers, the thing that annoys them the most about Western policy-makers is that they're not given any credit for anything.
Many Africans succumb to the idea that they can't do things because of what society says. Images of Africa are negative - war, corruption, poverty. We need to be proud of our culture.
The World Bank can only survive if it's spending money.
In a perfect world what poor countries at the lowest rungs of economic development need is not a multi-party democracy, but in fact a decisive benevolent dictator to push through the reforms required to get the economy moving
If you think about the last 50 years, Africa's proximity and historical context has absolutely been with Europe and the United States, but their approach in dealing with the economic challenges that Africa faces in particular has been one of handing out aid, not developing economies, not building a long term relationship around agriculture and so on.
The fact that Brazil and Chile now has China as their largest trading partner means the Monroe Doctrine is certainly something of the past.
The fact that China has about seven percent arable land, means that she's always going to be looking for places that have more arable lands to finance or to provide food stuffs.
Ask most people who live in a home and have a mortgage on it whether they own their own home and the answer is almost guaranteed to be a resounding 'yes'. Yet it's the wrong answer. Technically speaking, until they have paid the mortgage off, they don't own it. Herein lies the difference between reality and illusion, between ownership and control. This confusion lies not only at the individual level, but also at the heart of government thinking.
Under the all-encompassing aid system, too many places in Africa continue to flounder under inept, corrupt and despotic regimes who spend their time courting and catering to the demands of the army of aid organizations.