Money Talks: Moral Economies of Earning a Living in Neoliberal East Africa

Neoliberal restructuring has targeted not just the economy, but also polity, society and culture, in the name of creating capitalist market societies. The societal repercussions of neoliberal policy and reform in terms of moral economy remain understudied. This article seeks to address this gap by analysing moral economy characteristics and dynamics in neoliberalised communities, as perceived by traders in Uganda and sex workers in Kenya. The interview data reveal perceived drivers that contributed to a significant moral dominance of money, self-interest, short-termism, opportunism and pragmatism. Equally notable are a perceived (i) close interaction between political–economic and moral–economic dynamics, and (ii) significant impact of the political–economic structure on moral agency. Respondents primarily referred to material factors usually closely linked to neoliberal reform, as key drivers of local moral economies. We thus speak of a neoliberalisation of moral economies, itself part of the wider process of embedding and locking-in market society structures in the two countries. An improved political economy of moral economy can help keep track of this phenomenon.     

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Entrepreneurial orientation and start-ups' external financing

This study extends the Pecking Order Theory by investigating the role of start-ups' strategic posture for financial decision-making. Using a contingency approach, it proposes that a start-up's entrepreneurial orientation differently affects the costs and benefits associated with external debt and equity financing, and thereby its use of the respective financing forms; with the strength of these relationships depending on industry-level risk and venture development stage. The study tests and confirms these hypotheses on a sample of 4456 German start-ups. It advances the entrepreneurial finance literature by taking strategic posture and its contingencies into account, and adds insight in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. It also provides valuable practical implications for start-up founders and external financiers.     

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