The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Categories
Ndikumana

The Rise of Chinese Influence in Africa

UMass Amherst Andrew Glyn Professor of Economics Leonce Ndikumana is interviewed by The Real News Network about the growing economic influence of China in Africa. He says China is expanding its investments in African countries, but often doesn’t hire local labor to work in their mining and business enterprises.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfrrGwdd9SY[/youtube]

Categories
Boyce Ndikumana PERI

Boyce and Ndikumana on The Real News Network

In this The Real News Network interview, James Boyce and Leonce Ndikumana, UMass Amherst economics professors and authors of Africa’s Odious Debts, argue that under international law, debts incurred by dictators should not be enforceable. This video is the first of a three part series. (The Real News Network, 10/24/11)

Categories
Boyce Ndikumana

Boyce and Ndikumana publish “Africa’s Odious Debts”

In Africa’s Odious Debts, UMass Amherst economics professors James Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana reveal the shocking fact that, contrary to the popular perception of Africa being a drain on the financial resources of the West, the continent is actually a net creditor to the rest of the world. The extent of capital flight from sub-Saharan Africa is remarkable: more than $700 billion in the past four decades. But Africa’s foreign assets remain private and hidden, while its foreign debts are public, owed by the people of Africa through their governments.

Léonce Ndikumana and James K. Boyce reveal the intimate links between foreign loans and capital flight. More than half of the money borrowed by African governments in recent decades departed in the same year, with a significant portion of it winding up in private accounts at the very banks that provided the loans in the first place. Meanwhile, debt-service payments continue to drain scarce resources from Africa, cutting into funds available for public health and other needs. Controversially, the authors argue that African governments should repudiate these ‘odious debts’ from which their people derived no benefit, and that the international community should assist in this effort.

Join the authors to celebrate the release of Africa’s Odious Debts:

Thursday, November 3 at 5 pm
Amherst Books
8 Main street
Amherst, Massachusetts