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And part of Diamond's book was about how geography helped form free markets.
by SamBam 3y ago
And part of Diamond's book was about how geography helped form free markets.
- WalterBright 3y agoSorry, free markets are not dependent on geography. Any country/civilization can adopt them any time they want to.
- chongli 3y agoAnd the point of the book is that Balkanized geography makes countries more likely to want to adopt free markets whereas big continents will be more likely to adopt authoritarian state control.
- WalterBright 3y agoSounds like nonsense - the US straddles an entire continent. At the opposite geographical extreme we have Taiwan and Japan, both highly successful free markets.
- chongli 3y agoThe US was colonized, it didn't spring forth from pre-history this way. Diamond's theory is about the foundations of civilization and how they led to the broad strokes of history, not about modern events.
- WalterBright 3y agoSouth America was colonized at the same time, but they didn't recognize rights and never amounted to much economically.
- chongli 3y agoSouth America was pretty much entirely a jungle-covered mineral colony. Resource curse theory applies.
- WalterBright 3y agoI'm not buying those excuses. SA failed to prosper because they had unfree economies. Chile has prospered when it went more free market, and regressed when it turned away from them.