I am from India, born in 1980 and saw first hand how fast things changed from 1991 onwards when economy was opened up [See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economi

I am from India, born in 1980 and saw first hand how fast things changed from 1991 onwards when economy was opened up [See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_liberalisation_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_liberalisation_in_Indi...] Yes, Indian parents focus on education but that is not what lead to growth in personal income. My father did not finish high school nor did he go to a college but we saw remarkable improvement in our life style thanks to overall economy improvement as there was more demand for his work. I know many people who are completely illiterate but were able to grow their business as there was no more red-tape by government. In 1991, government allowed private banks to open (before that all banks were state owned) which lead to better access to capital allowing tons of businesses to flourish. Reliance Industries [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_Industries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_Industries] is the the largest private sector company by revenue and ranks 107 in Fortune 500. The company was started by Dhirubhai Ambani who did not go to college but was able to grow his company many fold after economy was opened up.