African Productivity and Potential - Higher than you thought

This post follows a bit on the other one about African infrastructure. A study of the existing businesses finds that African ones do MUCH better than other areas, BUT FOR the debilitating effects of the lack of infrastructure. The researchers indicate that African entrepreneurs would outperform others IF their infrastructure were similar.

Worth a read: African Entrepreneurs great but for.

"A revised roster shows that Africa leads in total factor productivity (the gold standard for firm-level performance in academic research), sales growth, labor productivity and labor productivity growth, among other variables. They also added adjustments for regional conditions like bribery, tenacity of regimes to stay in power, predilection for armed conflict, ethnic fractionalization, difficulty firing unsuitable workers and a sizeable "informal" business sector that doesn't report bottom lines."

Which clearly goes along with the idea that the lack of supportive infrastructure has a tremendous negative impact on development and freedom. People in Africa have to work even harder to get anywhere. With the resources of that continent, they should be a dominant force on the planet. Their problems? How about this list:

• Bribery at every step.
• Ethnic and religious factions fighting - often with weapons.
• Government control, trying to stay in power, remove threats.
• "Protective" but restrictive tariffs and labor laws.
• Courts and police that do not function.
• The lack of titled ownership of real property.
• No credit infrastructure.
• Poor transportation infrastructure.
• Poor communications infrastructure.

But, with all of that, the authors are hopeful. Cell phones are literally changing everything. That is why there are cell phones all over the Serengeti, even though there is no electrical service! A phone is extremely useful for business at every level, so the providers deliver service even with no local power source. And the ethnic differences may indeed be the source of greater creativity.

There is always hope. How do we help in that world? Or can we? At least we are not trying to change the way people think. That seems like a much more difficult process. Even so, the way they think, their "world view" can drive what is acceptable in terms of social change. I doubt that the Arab countries will actually embrace real democracy in any meaningful form any time soon. Hopefully the bulk of Africa is not stuck in that mold.

Why is this stuff so complicated?  People - what can you do with them? Heck, we can't get our government to do almost anything these days - good or bad. What's the likelihood we are going to come up with a better system?

Your thoughts?