Zimbabwe's bizarre economic boom

In Zimbabwe, the hills near Mazowe look like a scene from a fever dream: giant excavators tearing up the earth, rivers diverted to feed makeshift washing stations, and a dam that once brimmed with water now reduced to a muddy puddle. Here’s the twist: While most countries dream of a gold rush sparking prosperity for everyone, in Zimbabwe it’s become a strange engine of growth that benefits a select few and leaves everyone else scrambling. You'd expect a gold boom to lift the whole country, maybe build roads or fund hospitals. But in reality, this rush has seen the landscape torn apart and small-scale miners pushed aside, while the real wealth gets funneled upwards. Instead of just cheering on the miners, the government has jumped in headfirst—not to help, but to grab what it can. President Mnangagwa and his allies have tightened their grip on the gold trade, turning the state into a gatekeeper. If you want to mine, you need the right connections. One miner in Mazowe described it like this: “They say it's our gold, but you can't touch it unless you know someone.” The most striking part is the numbers: Zimbabwe’s official gold output hit record highs, yet the average person hasn’t seen their life improve. Inflation still burns through salaries. Unemployment is rampant. The gold money flows, but it pools in the pockets of those closest to power. For ordinary families, the gold rush means more dust in the air and less water in the dam. One small-scale miner, Tapiwa, spends his days with a shovel and a dream, watching trucks full of ore pass him by. “We dig,” he says, “but the gold goes elsewhere.” Here's something you won't hear in most economics textbooks: a boom can actually make inequality worse if the rules are rigged. In Zimbabwe, the gold rush became a tool for the elite to consolidate their power, not for everyone to get ahead. There's another side to this story, though. Some argue that any economic activity is better than nothing—that at least the gold rush is creating jobs, however precarious. But even those optimists admit: When the river runs dry and the hills are stripped bare, the reckoning will come. The real lesson from Zimbabwe’s strange boom? Sometimes, a rush for riches can end up deepening the divides it was supposed to bridge. If you found it striking to see how a gold rush can make things worse instead of better, on Lara Notes you can press I'm In: it's the way to say “this story concerns me.” And if this story makes you want to talk to someone about it—maybe to ask what really happens to a country's wealth—on Lara Notes, you can tag the person with Shared Offline: that way, a meaningful conversation leaves a mark. Questa Nota viene da The Economist e ti ha fatto risparmiare un minuto rispetto all'articolo originale.