Money In An African Context

In the course of Africa's economic development several types of money and multiple financial systems have evolved. This book examines the opportunities created by such diversity. The book analyses the supply of commodity money and attempts to apply conventional theories of demand to this type of money; examines the relative efficiency of commodity money and flat money; explains the impact of commodity money on the economy; and it analyses theories of interest and dividend payments on savings and loans in indigenous money and capital markets. The book pays particular attention to the organisation and functioning of the institutions involved in the informal commodity and financial money, capital and insurance markets, as well as the constraints that they face. It also points out the limitations of key non-indigenous financial institutions and compares and contrasts them with indigenous financial entities. In light of those limitations, the inability of the non-indigenous financial system to fully articulate the the indigenous African financial culture and adequately address the financial needs and interests of its clients, the book proposes an alternative Pan African financial system that is pro-poor. The book draws on various studies on the subject matter of money and credit based on research done in Western, Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.

African Friends and Money Matters grew out of frustrations that Westerners experience when they travel and work in Africa. Africans have just as many frustrations relating to Westerners in their midst. Each manages money, time, and relationships in very different ways, often creating friction and misunderstanding. This book deals with everyday life in Africa, showing the underlying logic of African economic systems and behavior. Two new chapters in this second edition emphasize personal relationships, making the book even more relevant to the thoughtful reader. Maranz introduces these principles, as well as the very different goals of African and Western economic systems, plus ninety specific observations of money-related African behaviors. Personal anecdotes bring this book to life. The result is that the reader can make sense of customs that at first seem incomprehensible. This popular book has captured the interest of Westerners living in or visiting Sub-Saharan Africa: business, diplomatic, and NGO personnel; religious workers, journalists, and tourists. The readership includes professors and students of African Studies. African readers will also be interested for what it reveals about Western culture and ways Westerners often react to Africa. David E. Maranz (Ph.D., International Development) has worked with SIL International in several African countries since 1975 in community development, administration, and anthropology consulting. His earlier book, Peace is Everything (SIL International), examines the worldview and religious context of the Senegambia region.

African Friends and Money Matters grew out of frustrations that Westerners experience when they travel and work in Africa. Africans have just as many frustrations relating to Westerners in their midst. Each manages money, time, and relationships in very different ways, often creating friction and misunderstanding.

Discussion of the different goals of African and Western economic systems and ninety observations of African behaviors related to money matters and the frictions which can result when Westerners misunderstand.

African Friends and Money Matters grew out of frustrations that Westerners experience when they travel and work in Africa. Africans have just as many frustrations relating to Westerners in their midst. Each manages money, time, and relationships in very different ways, often creating friction and misunderstanding. This book deals with everyday life in Africa, showing the underlying logic of African economic systems and behavior. Two new chapters in this second edition emphasize personal relationships, making the book even more relevant to the thoughtful reader. Maranz introduces these principles, as well as the very different goals of African and Western economic systems, plus ninety specific observations of money-related African behaviors. Personal anecdotes bring this book to life. The result is that the reader can make sense of customs that at first seem incomprehensible. This popular book has captured the interest of Westerners living in or visiting Sub-Saharan Africa: business, diplomatic, and NGO personnel; religious workers, journalists, and tourists. The readership includes professors and students of African Studies. African readers will also be interested for what it reveals about Western culture and ways Westerners often react to Africa. David E. Maranz (Ph.D., International Development) has worked with SIL International in several African countries since 1975 in community development, administration, and anthropology consulting. His earlier book, Peace is Everything (SIL International), examines the worldview and religious context of the Senegambia region.

Money from Nothing explores the dynamics surrounding South Africa's national project of financial inclusion—dubbed "banking the unbanked"—which aimed to extend credit to black South Africans as a critical aspect of broad-based economic enfranchisement. Through rich and captivating accounts, Deborah James reveals the varied ways in which middle- and working-class South Africans' access to credit is intimately bound up with identity, status-making, and aspirations of upward mobility. She draws out the deeply precarious nature of both the aspirations and the economic relations of debt which sustain her subjects, revealing the shadowy side of indebtedness and its potential to produce new forms of oppression and disenfranchisement in place of older ones. Money from Nothing uniquely captures the lived experience of indebtedness for those many millions who attempt to improve their positions (or merely sustain existing livelihoods) in emerging economies.

This text provides an introduction to the central tenets of economic theory. Each section of the book takes the reader from the elementary to the more advanced theories and applications, and is written from a Southern African perspective.