Are Africa and South America destined to be 'resource-rich underachievers', or can knowledge intensification change all that? 'Resource Intensity, Knowledge and Development: Insights from Africa and South America' was launched at the Cape Town Book Fair 2008 in a public discussion between academic, researcher and volume editor Dr Jo Lorentzen and UCT sociologist Professor David Cooper, where the two speakers shared their views on recent resource-based development and the global economy debates.