# IL48: The Misunderstood Economics of Africa ft. Joe Studwell

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/top-traders-unplugged-761537/il48-the-misunderstood-economics-of-africa-ft-joe-studwell.md
Podcast: [Top Traders Unplugged](https://stenobird.com/podcast/top-traders-unplugged-761537)
Published: 2026-04-29T04:00:00+00:00
Episode link: http://localhost:8888/TopTradersUnplugged/ttu-2021/homepage/il48-the-misunderstood-economics-of-africa-ft-joe-studwell
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/c8972ad5-4d2a-4a02-92b3-bf4cbff76ea8.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/top-traders-unplugged-761537/episodes/il48-the-misunderstood-economics-of-africa-ft-joe-studwell
Duration seconds: 3650

## Resource

In this episode Kevin Coldiron is joined by bestselling author Joe Studwell who speaks about his new book How Africa Works: Success and Failure on the World’s Last Development Frontier . We discuss why many of our perceptions about Africa are wrong - why one big problem has been too few people, not too many and why the continent isn’t as resource-rich as we think. Joe talks us through some surprising success stories - like Rwanda’s emulation of Singapore and Botswana’s success in avoiding “the resource curse”. This is the time to begin researching and understanding the opportunities in a continent that has more land mass than the US, China and India combined and will eventually be home to the majority of the world’s young people. ----- 50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE ----- Follow Niels on Twitter , LinkedIn , YouTube or via the TTU website . IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written  here . And you can get a free copy of my latest book “ Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio ” here . Learn more about the Trend Barometer here . Send your questions to  info@toptradersunplugged.com And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on  iTunes  or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast. Follow Kevin on SubStack & read his Book . Follow Joe on LinkedIn and read his book. Episode TimeStamps: 00:01 - Introduction to the episode and guest 02:04 - Why the book was written and initial motivation 05:50 - Outsider perspective and reactions in Africa 07:22 - The core idea: population density and development 08:22 - Why Africa’s growt…

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