Short Abstract

This panel invites papers on trust as a prism for understanding the future of urban economies across Africa, refracting questions about economic governance, finance, digital adoption, and migrant entrepreneurship.

Long Abstract

This panel takes trust as a prism for understanding urban and peri-urban economies across Africa, refracting shared economic reality into multiple perspectives: of business operators, traders, residents, migrants, government officials, activists, policymakers, financial service providers, academic researchers. We will review multiple framings of trust, including as a potential economic asset that shapes access to resources, security, customers and markets at multiple levels. Trust, and how it is variously experienced and perceived deeply influences how the same policy, technology, institution or intervention can appear as both opportunity and threat.

A nuanced view of trust can also help in moving beyond vague and ambiguous references to social/cultural capital, and the distinction made between formal and informal institutions. We hope to engage in discussion of how the trust prism can deepen policy debates too often framed by the simplistic notion that formalization is the route to addressing trust deficits. This entails building a deeper understanding of how far so-called informal institutions substitute for, complement and interact with officially mandated governance institutions. Additionally, the panel seeks to explore how and why digital tools are adopted selectively and relationally, and what fears of fraud, surveillance, or unrecoverable loss reveal about the limits of digital inclusion agendas. We are also interested in understanding the distinct dynamics of cooperation, obligation, and risk in migrant-owned alongside locally owned businesses.

We invite papers examining trust and its economic consequences in any African urban or peri-urban context. Comparative and cross-disciplinary contributions are particularly welcome.

Propose paper