Democracy and Growth in Africa

What do economists, including those who have become national leaders, think about the relationship between democracy and economic growth? This matters in view of the recent decline of democracy even in places where democracy was supposed to be safe.

I asked ChatGPT a simple question: Can you please draft a 500-word address that economist X might deliver or have delivered on the relationship between democracy and economic growth? — where X included two African national leaders, both economists by training, Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s leader 1957–1966, and Julius Nyerere, who led Tanzania 1964–1985. As you will see, their views as imagined by ChatGPT are remarkably similar, and accord well with the evidence-based views of many modern economists.

Forthcoming in March/April 2026.