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> by lack of sweatshops but by corrupt government I think this is a false contrast. Stable government and reliable infrastructure are the standard requirements
by Bartweiss 9y ago
> by lack of sweatshops but by corrupt government
I think this is a false contrast. Stable government and reliable infrastructure are the standard requirements for building factories (sweatshop or otherwise) in a country. So a lack of industrialization is frequently a consequence of bad governance.
Notably, corruption itself isn't an issue. China, for instance, has plenty of corrupt and autocratic governance. But it has predictable, tolerable corruption and a basically-stable political structure, however the specifics may change. What's important is that the situation was predictable; everyone was willing to skim a percentage and leave the basic structures of government intact. If investors were worried that the government might take 100% of an investment, or fall completely, the situation would look pretty different.
- pm90 9y agoExcellent point. If you look at China, they took a long time to get to a state where they could start developing reliably. Basically after the fall of the Monarchy, there were revolution after revolution, until the Communist takeover. Even after, it took much later, until the rise of Deng Xiaoping, for development to actually take place. By that time, the State had effectively established itself as the Supreme political power (albeit a non-democratic one) which lead to the stability that allowed massive industrialization to take place rapidly, often with assistance from the State.