Workforces Build Economies

The Role of Governments in Economic Development

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During my mother’s memorial in Mangochi, my aunt was distributing t-shirts at my grandmother’s house, when she fell and fractured both bones in her right leg. They rushed her to the hospital near my home [where my mom passed on], and I quickly rushed over to check on her.

Like most hospital visits, it turned into hours of waiting and conversation.

It was there, in that setting that a question about the economy began to take shape.

Two former Members of Parliament came up in conversation—both known in the area.

One is Victoria Kingstone, who had represented Mangochi Central under the Democratic Progressive Party.

The other is Roza Fatch Mbilizi, who would go on to win the same seat in the 2025 elections.

I have known both women over my life, and have the privilege of calling them both aunt, as they have been friends of my parents.

I asked how the result had turned.

The nurse seated next to me had her explanations:

Roza’s campaign symbol was a maize cob.
Victoria’s was a storage barn.
People saw the maize and voted.
People just want to eat.

There was no mention of manifestos. No reference to policy. No discussion of long-term plans.

DPP math: Bola amalawi akudya nsima yamasamba, kaya aziyenda wapasi kenako ndikukapeza kunyumba magetsi kulibe. Azativoterabe fukwa akumakhuta nsima.

— Flotee (@Flotee_) April 21, 2026

At first glance, it reads like a failure of political judgment. It is not.

It is a precise reflection of the conditions under which economic and political decisions are being made.

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Participation

In Malawi’s 2025 general elections, voter turnout was approximately 76 percent, and Afrobarometer surveys show that over 80 percent of Malawians consistently report that they intend to vote. People participate. They queue. They show up. They care.

At the same time, they are voting in an environment defined by economic strain.

Recent reporting shows that inflation has remained above 20 percent for multiple consecutive years, and more than 70 percent of Malawians live below the international poverty line for low-income countries. Food insecurity is not peripheral—it is central. Afrobarometer data indicates that roughly 58 percent of Malawians identify food shortage as one of the most urgent issues government must address.

Under those conditions, political participation does not disappear. It adapts.

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Constraint

When people are operating under economic pressure, the structure of decision-making changes.

Choices are no longer anchored in long-term system performance. They are anchored in immediacy.

• What will I eat?
• What will stabilize my household today?
• What reduces uncertainty now?

The maize cob is not symbolic in the abstract. It is materially relevant.

Voting for maize is not irrational. It is economically consistent with a system where survival is the dominant constraint.

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The Wrong Starting Point

Most public conversations about development begin with infrastructure.

The roads are poor.
Electricity is unreliable.
Water systems are inconsistent.
Internet access is limited.

The conclusion follows:

the government is not delivering.

There is a truth in this. These failures are real. They affect productivity, mobility, and quality of life. Governments are responsible for addressing them.

But the analysis often stops at the level of service delivery.

It assumes that fixing the economy begins with fixing infrastructure. It assumes that governments can generate these systems independently of the economic structure beneath them.

This is where the reasoning becomes incomplete.

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Economic Enablement

An economy is not a set of policies. It is a structure of production.

People work.
Firms organize that work.
Goods and services are produced.
Value is exchanged.

From this process:

• incomes are generated
• savings are accumulated
• taxes are collected

From those taxes:

• governments fund infrastructure
• governments build and maintain systems

The direction of causality matters.

Production precedes public investment.

If production is limited, everything that depends on it is constrained.

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Malawi’s [Lacking] Productive Base

Malawi’s constraint is not effort. It is structure. The economy remains heavily concentrated in:

• low-productivity agriculture
• informal trade
• small-scale enterprise

Industrial production is limited. Manufacturing capacity is narrow. A large share of economic activity does not generate high, stable, taxable income.

This becomes visible in labor market data.

Each year, approximately 270,000 young people enter Malawi’s labor force, while the formal sector generates only around 40,000 jobs annually. The majority are absorbed into informal or underproductive work.

This is misalignment between labor supply and productive capacity.

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Fiscal Capacity

Government revenue depends on the economy it governs.

The IMF’s 2025 Article IV consultation for Malawi notes that the country’s fiscal capacity is constrained by a narrow tax base, including limited value-added tax coverage and the difficulty of capturing revenue from a largely informal economy.

This has direct implications.

If:

• incomes are low
• firms are small
• transactions are informal

then:

• tax collection is limited
• public spending is constrained
• infrastructure investment is restricted

This is not only a policy issue. It is a structural one.

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Governments Manage Systems

Governments absolutely play a central role.

They:

• build infrastructure
• regulate markets
• coordinate large-scale systems
• allocate public resources

But they do so within the limits of the economic base.

A government cannot sustainably fund large-scale infrastructure from an economy that is not generating sufficient taxable value.

This does not remove responsibility. It clarifies the constraint within which responsibility operates.

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The Workforce: Economic Engine

At the center of this system is the workforce.

Economic transformation occurs when a workforce:

• produces at higher levels of productivity
• participates in sectors that generate scalable value
• operates within firms that can grow and accumulate capital

This is what expands the economic base.

Without it:

• incomes remain low
• firms remain small
• tax capacity remains limited

The macroeconomy cannot expand independently of the microeconomy.

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Political Feedback Loop

The interaction between economic structure and political behavior creates a reinforcing loop.

• low productivity → low income
• low income → survival-driven decision-making
• survival-driven voting → short-term political incentives
• short-term incentives → limited structural transformation
• limited transformation → continued low productivity

This loop is not theoretical. It is visible.

The vote for maize sits inside this loop.

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Where Change Begins

The question that follows is practical:

What can we as individuals do within this system?

The answer is not abstract.

Individuals influence the economy through:

• the skills they develop
• the sectors they enter
• the type of value they create
• the way they organize work

When these decisions shift toward:

• higher productivity
• scalable output
• coordinated production

the economic base expands.

This expansion:

• increases incomes
• broadens the tax base
• enables public investment

Over time, it changes both economic and political outcomes.

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A Vote for Maize

The vote for maize is not the problem. It is an outcome of a failing [failed] system.

It reflects:

• economic constraint
• limited production
• immediate need

If the underlying structure changes—if production expands, if incomes stabilize, if food security is less fragile—the nature of decision-making changes with it.

Voters begin to prioritize:

• infrastructure
• system performance
• long-term planning

Not because they are told to, but because their conditions allow it.

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You and I

The conversation about development often begins at the level of government.

It focuses on:

• policy
• infrastructure
• delivery

But it cannot end there. It must not.

Because the capacity of any government is tied to the economy it manages.

And the economy, at its core, is built through production.

Governments manage what economies produce.

If the productive base is narrow, the system remains constrained.

If the productive base expands, the system follows.

That is where the work begins.

Read my Published Works:

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