Learn About Economic Growth in Africa

“The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer,” this phrase is very common and many people accept it as fact without checking out its validity. This logic imagines that the wealth of a nation is like a pie and that if someone has a larger slice, it is at the detriment of another. Fortunately, wealth and wealth creation don’t actually follow this flawed logic.

SFL has teamed up with Temba Nolutshungu, a director at the Free Market Foundation, to combat this misconception in the  Liberty in Africa course on SFLAcademy. The course looks at the difference between creating jobs and creating wealth, what causes economic booms, how the state can ensure economic freedom and wealth creation, and how inequality can be reduced across board.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the ideas covered: In simplest terms, economic growth can be referred to as increase in aggregate productivity. Often, but not necessarily, aggregate gains in productivity correlate with increased average marginal productivity. This means the average laborer in a given economy becomes, on average, more productive. It is also possible to achieve aggregate economic growth without an increased average marginal productivity through extra immigration (open borders) or higher birth rates.

Going by this textbook definition, it is reasonable to assume that running an economy shouldn’t be rocket science. However, in Africa certain impediments, such as foreign aid, have mitigated the growth of several economies across the continent. To learn more about why this is the case, check out Liberty in Africa, where you’ll learn from great thinkers like Mr. Nolutshungu!

Students for Liberty, in line with its mission to educate and empower the next generation of leaders of liberty, seeks to ensure that young individuals in Africa are introduced to the ideas of a free society, through understanding classical liberal principles that have propelled several successful economies around the world to enviable heights.