Why Africa is poor?

Institutions (or lack thereof), according to one study (the Economist) - though to also be fair, descriptions of Africa like this are unnecessarily crude (we-magazine). But the good news, is that this can be changed - and quickly (ASI):

We also have good evidence that it doesn't have to take 300 years. China in 1978 had GDP per capita around and about the same as England in 1600. 35 years later China's GDP is about what GB's was in 1950. It is possible to do this, for places to run through the industrial revolution at warp speed and make, by any rational historical or current world standard, people rich in just one generation.