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"At the other end is the Middle Eastern countries. Monarchs and despots have largely enriched themselves and their families at the expense of their country and
by fsloth 7y ago
"At the other end is the Middle Eastern countries. Monarchs and despots have largely enriched themselves and their families at the expense of their country and their people."
An exclusive political and economic system is always stifling towards those excluded. I would turn this discussion a bit around, that having natural resources is irrelevant to the well being of the people if the political and economic institutions are not inclusive. And for inclusive states natural resources likely should contribute only a portion of GDP with healthy investments in other sectors as well.
All the diamonds and gold in the world is irrelevant to the wellbeing of the common people if they are repressed... And if they are not repressed, the relative value of such resources is diminished as other economic activity should be available as well, then.
- cortesoft 7y ago> All the diamonds and gold in the world is irrelevant to the wellbeing of the common people if they are repressed... And if they are not repressed, the relative value of such resources is diminished as other economic activity should be available as well, then. You are leaving out the fact that a lot of natural resources is a huge incentive for someone to try to repress a population.
- fsloth 7y agoSure, you need something with a capital output to create an imbalance of wealth. But usually the capital output of any society is sufficient to incentivise exclusivity and repression. Even humans just surviving generally create a capital surplus - and no matter how small - taking that is sufficient to make few individuals wealthy.