The Role of Governments in Economic Development
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.
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.
Lessons Conversation
Delve into Business and International Development with Nthanda Manduwi
Episode 3: Rebuilding Detroit | Lessons Daily
After a month of living in the city, I attended a Detroit Economic Growth Corporation event where the City of Detroit was awards 13 businesses with grants amounting to $300,000.
The room was filled with founders, policymakers, and ecosystem builders gathered around a shared objective: increasing the probability that companies are built and sustained here.
I really like how the City of Detroit is approaching their entrepreneurship programming. It is quite deliberate: municipal grants, residency stipends, coworking access, and roles like Director of Entrepreneurship are all designed to reduce friction and create density.
As someone who is both an entrepreneur and a policy analyst, I find myself more than curious. From the inside, the strategy feels coherent. Capital is being deployed, networks are forming, and leadership is aligned around making Detroit competitive for builders.
But the city reveals itself differently once you leave that room. Moving through Detroit with the Director of Youth Affairs, Jerjuan Howard, the layers begin to separate.
Institutional support, ecosystem energy, and neighborhood reality do not fully overlap—they operate in parallel. Jerjuan’s work—through debate programs, public space, and the Howard Family Bookstore—exists at the level where rebuilding becomes physical and immediate.
His question at the end of the day to me,“Do you plan to stay?” left me reflecting on what I hope to gain from and give to Detroit.
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March 26, 2026
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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