5 ms·

Something I can't help but notice: all of the countries on the list are currently wealthy, advanced economies. Cause or effect?

jotm 9y ago
They didn't bother with lesser known countries, good record keeping, fewer wars, definition of company.
jedberg 9y ago
Both? Most likely it's because those countries have strong traditions of record keeping and have been fairly stable culturally.
- atomic77 9y ago
  Maybe it's a reflection of a sort of long term, virtuous loop. Stability brings wealth, wealth reinforces the need for stability. Shocks can occur (e.g. Japan and Germany most recently) but note how quickly they're right back where they were, at least on multi-generational timescale.
krick 9y ago
"Wealthy, advanced economies" is quite extensible concept. There are some small, not so wealthy countries on the list. No real correlation here. And if you are wondering, why Nigeria is not on the list — well, isn't it obvious? I mean, even if the country was very successful during its history, but barely keeping on the float right now — probably the 1000 y.o. family business wouldn't be currently active as well.
- atomic77 9y ago
  All the countries on the list are OECD members, and Poland is the only one that was not a member prior to the end of the cold war.
  - krick 9y ago
    Latvia and Slovakia entered after Poland, for instance. Won't check the rest. And, anyways, does OECD membership really account for something? Who is not a OECD member nowdays? African countries? Well, I believe it isn't a surprise for you there aren't many known thousand-year-old businesses there (there hardly is a "thousand-year-old history" at all, same as South America), and this is not entirely related to a country doing well right now. I bet you don't consider Latvia currently doing better than Arab Emirates, for example. Basically, most of these old businesses are either in Europe or Japan. I'm only surprised that China, SK and Russia are not on the list, but you can find explanations for that. And whats left are, basically, "countries w/o history". So, no, I don't believe you could find a causal relationship here, unless you are basically making it up.
    - fulafel 9y ago
      Map of oecd: http://lcdn.24point0.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1800x/6a98226f0254c10d9ba7ccf96e396a7d/w/o/world-map-oecd-countries-map-editable-powerpoint-slides.jpg http://lcdn.24point0.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image...

jotm 9y ago

They didn't bother with lesser known countries, good record keeping, fewer wars, definition of company.

jedberg 9y ago

Both? Most likely it's because those countries have strong traditions of record keeping and have been fairly stable culturally.

atomic77 9y ago
Maybe it's a reflection of a sort of long term, virtuous loop. Stability brings wealth, wealth reinforces the need for stability. Shocks can occur (e.g. Japan and Germany most recently) but note how quickly they're right back where they were, at least on multi-generational timescale.

krick 9y ago

"Wealthy, advanced economies" is quite extensible concept. There are some small, not so wealthy countries on the list. No real correlation here. And if you are wondering, why Nigeria is not on the list — well, isn't it obvious? I mean, even if the country was very successful during its history, but barely keeping on the float right now — probably the 1000 y.o. family business wouldn't be currently active as well.

atomic77 9y ago
All the countries on the list are OECD members, and Poland is the only one that was not a member prior to the end of the cold war.
- krick 9y ago
  Latvia and Slovakia entered after Poland, for instance. Won't check the rest. And, anyways, does OECD membership really account for something? Who is not a OECD member nowdays? African countries? Well, I believe it isn't a surprise for you there aren't many known thousand-year-old businesses there (there hardly is a "thousand-year-old history" at all, same as South America), and this is not entirely related to a country doing well right now. I bet you don't consider Latvia currently doing better than Arab Emirates, for example. Basically, most of these old businesses are either in Europe or Japan. I'm only surprised that China, SK and Russia are not on the list, but you can find explanations for that. And whats left are, basically, "countries w/o history". So, no, I don't believe you could find a causal relationship here, unless you are basically making it up.
  - fulafel 9y ago
    Map of oecd: http://lcdn.24point0.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1800x/6a98226f0254c10d9ba7ccf96e396a7d/w/o/world-map-oecd-countries-map-editable-powerpoint-slides.jpg http://lcdn.24point0.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image...