What Lessons Can Africa Learn from Asia’s Economic Revolution

Asia’s economic failures and successes can be important lessons for countries like Africa. However, identifying situations that match their starting points as latecomers in industrialization can be difficult. To make the process easier, we have broken down some applicable lessons that African countries can integrate into their development path down below. Let’s take a look.

Adopting Diversity

Diversity in development paths is pivotal. The transformation of Asia shows the varied directions that these countries have adopted to boost their growth. Rather than looking for a multifunctional model, African countries should establish and follow their own economic development courses depending on their specific needs. Such methods have already been proven successful for countries like Ghana, Kenya, and Ethiopia for the past two decades. Ethiopia’s growth, for example, was achieved by adopting an unconventional economic development standard and the concepts of policy independence. Kenya and Ghana, on the other hand, pursued a more general tradition and embraced the economic liberalization formulas of the Washington Consensus to achieve success. 

Clear Lessons for African Countries

Asia’s transformative journey to industrialization needed constant technological learning and advancement. The state played a crucial role as a manager, catalyst, and advocate of economic development while also taking on various roles in different countries, sectors, and development stages. All these roles were vital to the country’s success. Asia’s experience is a clear indication that openness works well for industrialization and revolution. However, it should also be complemented by a strategic plan and an effective industrial policy. African countries’ desires to industrialize and scale the development ladder are possible, but they need strong state leadership, improvements in technological capability, and a well-strategized industrial policy framework.

The African-dummy and Afro-pessimism

It is evident from Asia’s experience that technological learning by organizations and policy learning by governments are critical factors for success. Industrial development models vary between African countries, but many are already adopting the Asian concept of effective learning. The success of Ethiopia’s cement and floriculture industries once again indicates the importance of policy learning in policymaking. Thus, the standard Afro-pessimism perception and the African-dummy research concept are misguided and misrepresented, making them very facile, biased viewpoints. 

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