The real reason that the Kongolese did not adopt
superior technology was because they lacked any
incentives to do so. They faced a high risk of all their output
being expropriated and taxed by the all-powerful king,
whether or not he had converted to Catholicism. In fact, it
wasn’t only their property that was insecure. Their continued
existence was held by a thread. Many of them were
captured and sold as slaves—hardly the environment to
encourage investment to increase long-term productivity.
Neither did the king have incentives to adopt the plow on a
large scale or to make increasing agricultural productivity
his main priority; exporting slaves was so much more
profitable.
It might be true today that Africans trust each other less
than people in other parts of the world. But this is an
outcome of a long history of institutions which have
undermined human and property rights in Africa. The
potential to be captured and sold as a slave no doubt