Via Public Radio’s excellent Marketplace program, an interesting look at investment interest in Zimbabwe, a country whose economy has been in free fall since 2000 when Mugabe endorsed a violent land seizure program and where, today, four out of five adults are unemployed and the inflation rate tops 165,000 percent.  As the interview notes:

“…During Mugabe’s 28-year tenure, most international investors have left Zimbabwe. One reason: Unstable fiscal policies make for meager profits. Another: Fear of being associated with Mugabe’s regime and its alleged human rights abuses…

…But observers say that’s changing. They say Zimbabwe is in endgame because no government in modern history has debased its currency this much and survived. And that’s getting investors excited about Zimbabwe’s potential.

The country’s bigger than Montana and has everything: Prime agricultural land, 12 million people, which means new markets for banking and telecommunications and, of course, commodities…

…Red-hot commodity prices are fueling growth. Platinum prices alone have climbed 90 percent since the beginning of last year and African stock markets are on fire from Ghana to Botswana….”