I think the main factor is literally the stupidity of managers and the fact that real intelligence has almost no value in our modern economy. Managers don't get

I think the main factor is literally the stupidity of managers and the fact that real intelligence has almost no value in our modern economy. Managers don't get hired because of their intelligence - They get hired because they have connections to capital (the right friends). It doesn't matter what these managers do because most of the economy is founded on oligopolies which are themselves founded on fiat money printed out of nothing. Western economic power is an illusion at this stage. The numbers look bigger in the west but they're way more fragile and collectively people have less freedom in how they spend their money - This is why all VCs just copy each other instead of actually thinking about their investments, they know that the system is too fragile to allow them to actually think. I have a suspicion that investors in developing countries invest in a broader range of companies and it's more like a free market than in the west.