Our Long Walk

<p>What are we missing when we divide history into the binary of ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’? How is biography different when we imagine a person’s story from within the structures they find themselves in? What is the...

<p>Why do our strategy theories fail when confronted with the realities of one of Africa’s most essential informal businesses – minibus taxis? Can a drop in interest rates reduce speeding and crashes? How is the...

<p>What advantages did cowrie shells and beads have over coins in Africa? Is mobile money a revolution, or just the latest chapter in Africa's long history of monetary innovation?</p><p>In this episode, Johan Fourie and...

<p>What can we learn from uncertainty? How can using beans help with measuring uncertainty? And are we really living in unusually uncertain times?</p><p><br /></p><p>In this episode of the Our Long Walk podcast, my...

<p>Why does mobile money reduce agricultural investment in rural areas—and what does this reveal about migration as a development tool? Is high-skilled emigration bad for countries, or can brain drain become brain...

<p>What is the difference between magic and religion – and why does it matter for economics? </p><p>In this episode of the Our Long Walk podcast, Johan Fourie and Jonathan Schoots speak with Paul Seabright, Professor of...

<p>What does a serious defence of modernity look like? In this episode of the Our Long Walk podcast, Johan Fourie and Jonathan Schoots speak with Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, philosopher of African political thought at Cornell...

<p>In a rapidly changing world marked by trade wars, shifting alliances, and resurgent nationalism, what can history teach us about the future of globalisation? Is America’s retreat from global leadership inevitable...

<p>There’s an Igbo saying, quoted by Chinua Achebe, that goes like this: ‘A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body.’ It’s a fitting way to end Season 1 of the Our Long...

<p>What if history is not only what we are told, but also what we choose to remember? What if the stories of apartheid are not just tales of villainy and victimhood, but of complexity, contradiction and human agency...

<p>How should we understand the era before Africa’s colonisation? Was it a period of stagnation or one of profound innovation and change? Why has the ‘Scramble for Africa’ dominated historical narratives, often...

<p>What determines opportunity in Africa? Does religion shape upward mobility? How do artificial borders, landmines, and weak states constrain economic development? And why has Africa largely resisted the global rise of...

<p>How far back should economic history go? </p><p>Most textbooks start with agriculture, trade, and the emergence of states. But what if we looked further – beyond written records, beyond cities, beyond even the first...

<p>What shapes the decisions we make each day, from the seemingly trivial to the transformative? Why do trust, honour or zero-sum thinking persist in some societies but not others? How does a legacy of past events...

<p>What makes a city thrive in the Global South? Why do some cities build stronger connections between their citizens, social movements, and governments while others remain fragmented? Can the lessons from São Paulo...