> many governments lack rule of the law such that you can invest in something better and get a return (if there is another revolution you lose the land and all

> many governments lack rule of the law such that you can invest in something better and get a return (if there is another revolution you lose the land and all your effort to make it better are lost). It's not revolutions. If you as an ordinary not politically connected person are doing well, one of the government's henchmen will just take your property off you, and you (or your surviving family members) have no recourse. It's easy to see how this dis-incentivizes investment in improvements. Secure property tenure is probably the key problem to crack.