Why Poor Countries Are Poor - The clues lie on a bumpy road leading to the world’s worst library.

Reason ^ | March 2006 | Tim Harford

[proud_yank]

Poor countries have the worst examples of such regulations, and that is one of the major reasons they are poor

But so many liberals try to tell me that regulations are good for the economy and they encourage prosperity?? Can liberals possibly be wrong???? /s

[proud_yank]

Poor countries have the worst examples of such regulations, and that is one of the major reasons they are poor

But so many liberals try to tell me that regulations are good for the economy and they encourage prosperity?? Can liberals possibly be wrong???? /s

[rellimpank]

--b--

[LibertarianInExile]

Phenomenal article BUMP!

[sarasmom]

Long but good read.

[rockprof]

Anytime you think it's a good idea to give money to Africa, take that money, shred it up, and flush it down the toilet.

[Ninian Dryhope]

"Piles of rubble and vast holes mark unfinished construction or demolition work. Along the middle is a strip of potholes that 20 years ago was a road."

Sounds like Detroit.

[sionnsar]

ping

[Wilhelm Tell]

The tragedy of kleptocracy.

[IronJack]

So then the rational conclusion is that Cameroon's poverty is the result of corruption, nothing more. It isn't about capitalism's crushing the frail human spirit or the beleaguered proletariat being sacrificed at the altar of corporate profit or any of that other Marxist garbage. It's because thieves and crooks abound in the government, and the people are too stupid or too powerless to do anything about them.

Then what sense does it make to keep sending good money after bad, to keep lining the pockets of these tinhorn dictators in the vain hope that a few farthings will somehow trickle down to the needy? Wouldn't it be better to overthrow the crooks, install our own government, and direct the country toward prosperity, with an eye toward eventually kicking it out of the nest to fly on its own?

Wouldn't a better solution be Empire?

[Chode]

africa wins again...

[Wilhelm Tell]

The problem is that Cameroon, like other poor countries, is a topsy-turvy place where itÕs in most peopleÕs interest to take actions that directly or indirectly damage everyone else.

That is a profound observation that many people miss. It is hard to imagine how corrosive such a system is on a society. It is not so much that the bandit on top and his cronies steal much of the country (although that is bad enough). What makes is impossible is that it creates a condition where everyone is basically at war against everyone else. Instead of people mostly being occupied in providing goods and services that other people want, everyone is occupied with taking or destroying what little his neighbor has. What to call such a system? It is redistributing poverty until virtually everyone is dirt-poor.

[patton]

Didn't see anything I could refute.

[DeweyCA]

Cameroon is just another example of what is also happening in other countries, like Zimbabwe. In both cases, the colonial power had left the country in decent shape, and in both cases, the ensuing tribal chief thief has ruined the country with corruption. But hey, they are free!! Giving money to corrupt dictators just enables them to stay in power for a longer time. Mexico, do you hear this?

[DeweyCA]

A lack of accountability and monitoring and the rule of law explain a lot of this. Sounds a lot like socialism where results don't really count. It's entirely who you know rather than what you know or do.

[Darnright]

Here is Paul Biya

[gleeaikin]

"Wouldn't it be better to overthrow the crooks, install our own government, etc."

Well, we can all see how that is working out in Iraq. How much extra taxes are we willing to pay to finance the military we would need to implement such a policy?

Actually one concrete idea might be for the World Bank, etc., to stop funding such large projects unless they practiced proper oversight. If I hire a contractor to do a major project on my house, I give him 1/3 to get permits and buy materials, a second 1/3 when the project is half done to my satisfaction, and the final 1/3 when it is completed. If that library had international funding, the people who authorized the payments should be sued for misfeasance and nonfeasance at the very least.

[hinckley buzzard]

Those interested in the nature of underdevelopment and the stubborn failure of third world to "catch up" will do well to peruse The Mystery of Capital by Hernando DeSoto. He goes far more clearly to the source than this pop book writer. DeSoto is unique in my view because he not only asks "Why don't they catch up?" but also, "How did we do it so successfully?"

He reveals that, shockingly, no contemporary government analyst had the faintest idea of why the West flourished under capitalism, why the trillions of dollars lavished on the third world vanished largely without a trace, despite vigorous local informal economies in those lands, or what to do to make it turn out better. The answers are neither obvious nor facile

A trenchent analysis based on illustrative case studies, national data and history, the book offers a wealth of insight into just why the West has been so successful in contrast to other regions. His discussions of American history are worth the price of the book itself.

[pierrem15]

Anytime you think it's a good idea to give money to Africa, take that money, shred it up, and flush it down the toilet.

I was surprised that the author did not note that foreign aid is one of the primary reasons why such regimes continue to exist. In fact, it makes them worse, because now they can act like the nomadic bandits he refers to above: they can loot the locals mercilessly because a big chunk of their income comes from foreign sources. Heck, the more they loot, the more they collect in aid to 'help' with the apalling conditions in their countries.