I was watching Numb3rs the other night – the most recent one, involving the super computer (don’t know what the episode is called) – and in it some crazy/evil DARPA woman offers Charlie 5 years and unlimited resources to try to change/save the world. This for some reason reminded me of the last couple of episodes of the West Wing, in which CJ is offered $1 billion or so to save the world. When asked what she would do with the money, she replies, build roads in Africa, because transportation is key to supporting movement of goods, labor migration, and the spread of ideas – all of that good stuff that capitalism requires. As a thought exercise, I started daydreaming about what I would do with $1 billion (not that it will ever happen).
I agree with CJ on the issue of transportation, and the use of government/NGO/IGO money to build the infrastructure. I think entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of capitalism and economic growth, but most of them, not even the most successful entrepreneurs in Africa, cannot afford the kind of massive undertaking that building a functioning transportation infrastructure (well graded and MAINTAINED!!! roads, safety features, some education and initial investment in care and maintenance of vehicles, etc). There isn’t much that I trust government to do, especially to do well, but transportation infrastructure is one of those things I’d allow them to tackle (no, this is not a statement of faith that the government will manage the project well, but sometimes there just aren’t viable alternatives). I would, however, say that CJ was limited in her thinking. We use highways a lot in this country, but also railroads and rivers. Rivers aren’t really an option in Africa, and frankly, I’m not sure how viable railroads and roads are either. Africa is HUGE: about 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth’s total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. As a commonly cited example, Darfur, 1 single region in Sudan, is the size of France. That is a lot of roadway to build, through practically unpopulated regions, traversing deserts, jungles, and grasslands with lurking lions. I don’t think the world has that much goodwill. Read the rest of this entry »
