Joe Studwell – författare

'One of the most original and important books on Africa in years' FINANCIAL TIMES The birth of new nations, independent democracies, the unprecedented growth of cities from Lagos to Cairo; the African continent is booming. So why do myths about underdevelopment, unproductive land and overpopulation remain?In a groundbreaking new study of Africa's developmental history, economist Joe Studwell debunks long-held views about the continent's presumed resistance to growth, charting monumental changes in government, demography and asset management.Considering everything from settler colonialism to soil conditions, mineral extractivism to disease development and eradication, Studwell persuasively argues that the seizing back of land, people and states across Africa, has also been the seizure of mass economic development. From slavery to independence and beyond, this is the definitive account of the world's second largest continent - and an optimistic look to its future.

LONGLISTED FOR THE FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2026'One of the most original and important books on Africa in years' FINANCIAL TIMES The birth of new nations, independent democracies, the unprecedented growth of cities from Lagos to Cairo; the African continent is booming. So why do myths about underdevelopment, unproductive land and overpopulation remain?In a groundbreaking new study of Africa's developmental history, economist Joe Studwell debunks long-held views about the continent's presumed resistance to growth, charting monumental changes in government, demography and asset management.Considering everything from settler colonialism to soil conditions, mineral extractivism to disease development and eradication, Studwell persuasively argues that the seizing back of land, people and states across Africa, has also been the seizure of mass economic development. From slavery to independence and beyond, this is the definitive account of the world's second largest continent - and an optimistic look to its future.

Until the catastrophic economic crisis of the late 1990s, East Asia was perceived as a monolithic success story. But heady economic growth rates masked the most divided continent in the world - one half the most extraordinary developmental success story ever seen, the other half a paper tiger. Joe Studwell explores how policies ridiculed by economists created titans in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, and are now behind the rise of China, while the best advice the West could offer sold its allies in South-East Asia down the economic river. The first book to offer an Asia-wide deconstruction of success and failure in economic development, Studwell's latest work is provocative and iconoclastic - and sobering reading for most of the world's developing countries. How Asia Works is a must-read book that packs powerful insights about the world's most misunderstood continent.

LONGLISTED FOR THE FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2026'One of the most original and important books on Africa in years' FINANCIAL TIMES'A compelling case for the continent's potential' Bill GatesThe birth of new nations, independent democracies, the unprecedented growth of cities from Lagos to Cairo; the African continent is booming. So why do myths about underdevelopment, unproductive land and overpopulation remain?In a groundbreaking new study of Africa's developmental history, economist Joe Studwell debunks long-held views about the continent's presumed resistance to growth, charting monumental changes in government, demography and asset management.Considering everything from settler colonialism to soil conditions, mineral extractivism to disease development and eradication, Studwell persuasively argues that the seizing back of land, people and states across Africa, has also been the seizure of mass economic development. From slavery to independence and beyond, this is the definitive account of the world's second largest continent - and an optimistic look to its future.

40 or 50 families control the economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. Their interests range from banking to property, from shipping to sugar, from vice to gambling. 13 of the 50 richest families in the world are in South East Asia yet they are largely unknown outside confined business circles. Often this is because they control the press and television as well as everything else. How do they do it? What are their secrets? And is it good news or bad for the places where they operate? Joe Studwell explosively lifts the lid on a world of staggering secrecy and shows that the little most people know is almost entirely wrong.