This article presents some possible factors that explain why America remains the world richest large country.
However, it is American Exceptionalism bias.First we need to point out that US GDP per capita is only 8th in the world and 6 of the top 7 are European countries. UK, France and Germany are BIG economies but they ARE NOT the richest. We can't dismiss countries such as Norway because it's filled with oil. That's nonsense. Also, for the top 10 countries from the HDI list, the US is the only large country with a big population.
common law: this only is applicable to half of the top 10 nations in the HDI list and therefor not a desisive factor
massive immigration: only applicable to 3 nations of the top 10 in that list
scientific exodus: for no other country more applicable then Germany (that LOST most of it's scientists!) and look where that country is now? Arguably the best nation for machinery and tools in the world.
What makes a nation rich compared with others:
1 having a cultural heritage from north-west europe (social structures and work ethics etc)
2 be small (US being the odd one out)
3 having an open economy
4 having rule of law and a system where contracts can be enforced
America is certainly a country that is doing well economically but this continuous chest beating how great and SPECIAL it is, is becoming a nuisance.
4 comments:
It seems that being large geographically (or at least when that translates into a diversity of natural resources) generally would promote economic growth. We also have to remember that while the rich nations in the world today are open economically, they did not get rich by that strategy. All of them relied heavily on protectionist policies early on in their development paths. Some of these variables confuse correlation with causation I think.
hmm, however data is the only thing that is valid right? And as data shows, it seems quite obvious that those countries from north west Europe have lower crime rates, lower rape rates, higher GDP per capita, a better educated population, a healthier population and a more happy population. And countries from East Asia is also coming quite close to these standards I think.
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