This week’s Rose Cafe was very interesting. I particularly liked that less people were there, which made it more like an actual conversation. The talk focused on government corruption in African countries and the impact that corruption has on the population. I was intrigued by this topic because it wasn’t something I had given much thought to before. Of course, I knew many countries in Africa were poor, but I never really considered the reasoning behind the poverty. In Africa many governments are corrupt on a scale that is almost incomprehensible. Entire department budgets are stolen, dictators are in power for decades, and markets are manipulated to restrict citizen’s access to goods. Professor van der Walle discussed several possible solutions, including limiting foreign aid and imposing term limits.

I thought the most interesting element of the talk was brought up by Professor Blalock, which is that a large number of Chinese people are currently immigrating to Africa. I was totally unaware of this migration trend, but it makes sense. They view Africa as an area of untapped potential, which it is. Hopefully they are helping to bring in new business and infrastructure, which will help to increase the general living standard.