On a mission: planning an economy with mutable mobiles

Morgan, Mary S. ORCID: 0000-0003-3471-2180 (2025) On a mission: planning an economy with mutable mobiles. Science in Context. ISSN 0269-8897

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Abstract

When newly independent states in Africa set out to make their own economies in the 1960s, they did so under the label of “planning,” a generic term denoting economic policy-making to create the economic future. This planning was guided by international experts, sent “on missions” to help, or perhaps oversee, local economists in what was seen then as an expert, technocratic process. Nigeria offers an important example of this technocracy at work, under the guidance of its “missionary”: Wolfgang Stolper. His diary, and his writings of the day, reveal how local information and local values travelled around social, political and economic circles, to be then spliced together according to certain economic principles in making a “five-year plan” for the future of Nigeria.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Date Deposited:	20 Oct 2025 23:17
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2025 17:43
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/129879

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