Africa - Morten Jerven

Africa: Why Economists Get It Wrong (African Arguments) by Morten Jerven

In Africa: Why Economists Get It Wrong, Morten Jerven delivers a sharp, necessary challenge to how Africa’s economies are understood, measured, and talked about. Drawing on years of research into African economic data, Jerven shows how weak statistics, bad assumptions, and lazy generalizations have shaped misleading narratives about growth, failure, and development across the continent.

This is not an anti-economics book—it’s a call for better economics. Jerven argues that when policymakers, donors, and institutions rely on flawed numbers, they end up making flawed decisions. Clear, concise, and provocative, this book forces readers to rethink what they think they know about Africa’s economic story. Buy in Kenya with fast delivery from Readers’ Republik.

What you’ll learn

• Why African economic data is often unreliable or misunderstood

• How GDP figures and growth stories can mislead

• The dangers of policy built on poor statistics

• Why context matters more than tidy economic models

• How narratives about “Africa rising” are constructed

Who should read the book

• Readers interested in African development and political economy

• Students of economics, policy, and international development

• Journalists and researchers covering Africa

• Anyone tired of oversimplified stories about the continent

Why buy Africa from Readers’ Republik

• Fast, reliable delivery anywhere in Kenya

• A curated selection of serious nonfiction and African perspectives

• Supporting a Kenyan bookseller focused on thoughtful reading