African History through the Lens of Economics

At the Wheler Institute for Business and Development, we have curated, designed, and currently run an online open-access free course on African History through the Lens of Economics

• The 11-week (23 lecture) course aims to familiarize students with insights into the recent, burgeoning literature on the impact of Africa’s history on contemporary development (JEL review).

• The inter-disciplinary course aims to foster dialogue between economics, history, political science, cultural anthropology, even psychology. The lectures abstract from econometric and economic theory zooming into the core ideas and hypotheses and the way economics may be helpful addressing them.

• The course organization and main lectures are delivered by Nathan Nunn (Harvard University and NBER), Leonard Wantchekon (Princeton University, African School of Economics, and NBER), Stelios Michalopoulos (Brown, CEPR, and NBER), and Elias Papaioannou (London Business School and CEPR), who also leads the course administration alongside the dedicated team of the Wheler Institute for Business and Development.

• Course website (including all class material, lecture slides, videos). https://www.wheelerafricacourse.org/

• Background Review. VOXEU 27-1-2022

• Promotional Video.

• Course Statistics

  • about 28,000 registration from 161 countries

  • majority of participants from Africa [Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa being at the top]

  • about 300-500 questions and comments per session [almost all addressed "live", in the Q&A part, in the weekly FAQ, and the recitations.

  • very diverse background of participants [economics, business, political science, law, history, African studies]