Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All

by Michael Shellenberger

If Congo ever got its act together, I asked Dinh, what should it do? “I was asked to advise Osun State [in Nigeria],” he said. “I advised them to open up to foreign direct investment and try to get as many jobs created as possible. For now, forget about who owns them. Just bring them over. Get in touch with the Chinese or Vietnamese or Malaysians and ask them to bring factories over.” There is no shortcut to success, Dinh emphasizes. “I gave a lecture at the Harvard Africa [Business] Club and someone said, ‘We don’t want to produce clothing and start with cheap products like China. We want to go right to the higher value added.’ But you can’t go directly from making bicycles to making a satellite. First you make bicycles and that allows you to make motorcycles. From there you can go to automobiles. From automobiles you can start thinking about satellites. “The goal in Ethiopia is to have as many jobs as possible, and have the education system turning out the factory workers that you need. That’s why I push for light manufacturing. It’s not just the skills but also the discipline instilled in people.