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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Joe Studwell on Africa, Asia, and What Development Actually Requires

18 Feb 2026 24 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Joe StudwellTyler Cowen

Claim mix

belief 13evaluation 6prediction 3recommendation 1uncertainty 1

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

24 published records

02 / belief

I think that demand for manufactured goods will continue to be high around the world, and the labor cost will continue to be a prime determinant of where producers go for low value-added goods.

“I think that demand for manufactured goods will continue to be high around the world, and the labor cost will continue to be a prime determinant of where producers go for low value-added goods.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

05 / belief

I suspect that they will carry on with this very messy politics that they have until at some point the relationship between the monarchy and politics is confronted.

“I suspect that they will carry on with this very messy politics that they have until at some point the relationship between the monarchy and politics is confronted.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

07 / belief

If I knew more about industrial policy in Brazil, I think what I would be saying is that it’s been ineffectively applied, patchily applied, not applied consistently over a long enough period.

“If I knew more about industrial policy in Brazil, I think what I would be saying is that it’s been ineffectively applied, patchily applied, not applied consistently over a long enough period.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

08 / belief

I tend to not get much further when I think about this than being profoundly amused by the fact that we have spent the last 250 years being obsessed with the Malthusian view of the world and believing that we’re going to breed ourselves into a disaster.

“I tend to not get much further when I think about this than being profoundly amused by the fact that we have spent the last 250 years being obsessed with the Malthusian view of the world and believing that we’re going to breed ourselves into a disaster.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

09 / belief

For instance, outside Addis Ababa, there’s a successful Chinese-managed and Chinese-owned investment zone, and it does absolutely fine. So, that type of investment zone, I think, yes, just let people get on with it and leave them alone.

“For instance, outside Addis Ababa, there’s a successful Chinese-managed and Chinese-owned investment zone, and it does absolutely fine. So, that type of investment zone, I think, yes, just let people get on with it and leave them alone.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

10 / belief

I think that you can find cases that bear that out, but I’m not sure that it’s a great rule of thumb when you’re just looking at duration rather than also how colonialism operated, what it did.

“I think that you can find cases that bear that out, but I’m not sure that it’s a great rule of thumb when you’re just looking at duration rather than also how colonialism operated, what it did.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

11 / belief

I haven’t looked in sufficient detail, country by country, to be able to say where. I would say that in Central Africa, Rwanda’s done very well on health.

“I haven’t looked in sufficient detail, country by country, to be able to say where. I would say that in Central Africa, Rwanda’s done very well on health.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

13 / belief

Nonetheless, I would say that the population density is what has allowed Nigeria to have a better performance in agriculture than most people expected over the last 20, 30 years, and has also contributed to the outperformance of the whole Lagos area on the coast, which is a real hive of entrepreneurial activity.

“Nonetheless, I would say that the population density is what has allowed Nigeria to have a better performance in agriculture than most people expected over the last 20, 30 years, and has also contributed to the outperformance of the whole Lagos area on the coast, which is a real hive of entrepreneurial activity.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

14 / belief

I’m thinking about a developmental history of the UK because I’ve never written about my own country, and I think there are a number of things in the development of the UK that are not spelled out particularly clearly in what is generally a very good literature.

“I’m thinking about a developmental history of the UK because I’ve never written about my own country, and I think there are a number of things in the development of the UK that are not spelled out particularly clearly in what is generally a very good literature.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

16 / evaluation

Yes, the whole approach of targeting cheap money at manufacturing, putting some protection in place, rewarding exporters of manufactured goods — it’s created jobs, it’s raised the technological level at which the economy operates, and there’s really no substitute for it because, as has been shown, manufacturing is the only bit of the economy that really delivers the convergence that we’re supposed to get across the whole economy and the sort of orthodox view of life.

“Yes, the whole approach of targeting cheap money at manufacturing, putting some protection in place, rewarding exporters of manufactured goods — it’s created jobs, it’s raised the technological level at which the economy operates, and there’s really no substitute for it because, as has been shown, manufacturing is the only bit of the economy that really delivers the convergence that we’re supposed to get across the whole economy and the sort of orthodox view of life.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

17 / evaluation

On energy costs — these have traditionally been very high in Africa because there has not been the investment in energy, but with the development of massively reduced cost for solar and wind, actually, things look quite good, and the development of geothermal as well.

“On energy costs — these have traditionally been very high in Africa because there has not been the investment in energy, but with the development of massively reduced cost for solar and wind, actually, things look quite good, and the development of geothermal as well.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

18 / evaluation

— and they were misconceived, not least actually, in relation to demographics, because there were projects which actually needed more labor and bigger markets than were there.

“— and they were misconceived, not least actually, in relation to demographics, because there were projects which actually needed more labor and bigger markets than were there.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

19 / evaluation

The Nigerian Delta is more densely populated than most parts of Africa. And it reminds us that population density or increased population density alone is not enough to solve all of Africa’s problems, because Nigeria’s been a country plagued with problems since independence.

“The Nigerian Delta is more densely populated than most parts of Africa. And it reminds us that population density or increased population density alone is not enough to solve all of Africa’s problems, because Nigeria’s been a country plagued with problems since independence.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

22 / recommendation

I think that there is, but that is why my book concentrates — when it’s presenting optimism — on what is going on in the private sector, and particularly what’s going on in agriculture, which doesn’t require a lot of state input and state activity.

“I think that there is, but that is why my book concentrates — when it’s presenting optimism — on what is going on in the private sector, and particularly what’s going on in agriculture, which doesn’t require a lot of state input and state activity.”
Speaker
Joe Studwell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
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