> ... what facts would have led you to correctly predict the massive divergence over the next 30 years? The events of 1914 or 1803 in Haiti? The U.S. has been

> ... what facts would have led you to correctly predict the massive divergence over the next 30 years? The events of 1914 or 1803 in Haiti? The U.S. has been meddling in Haiti's affairs ever since, threatening leaders who dare to raise the minimum wage, among other things. Your skepticism of "history from 100-200 years ago to explain" seems more like a straw man argument. The comparison between Haiti (10 million residents) and China (1 billion residents) is kind of strange, for GDP per capita is not dependent on the work of independent individuals. You take the total for the country and divide by the number of individuals, so any country with a billion residents and the ability to produce and set wages without restrictions has a massive advantage over any country with 1 percent of their population. Lastly, your comparison with China could be done with a hundred other countries, so you could easily dismiss their history just the same. There's a lot going on you might not be aware of.