Why is Africa Poor?

[Southern]

@MMMark

@Southern

You are pretty insistant on using Botswana as some sort of golden arrow that can be used to demonstrate that it is institutions and policies that cause all of african poverty. (If this is not what you are saying, I appologize)

I’m only using Botswana because I’m not aware of any other examples…but one should suffice, and Botswana is a good one.

One exception dosent suffice. If it would, I could say that Saudi Arabia is a sufficient example of where abondoning liberty and adopting islamic law and institutions create prosperity. Of course, you and I both wouldnt believe that to be true.

@MMMark

@Southern

But we need to keep in mind that Botswana’s situation is not typical of most other african nations.
Possessing valuable natural resources bolster its numbers quite a bit.

I disagree with you here on three points.

1. The assumption that Botswana is atypically resource rich is both unfounded and unlikely. The resources buried beneath the ground of Africa don’t know or care about the man-made “borders,” arbitrarily drawn on the surface above! More likely is that the entire continent is a vast treasure-trove, as yet mostly undiscovered. This situation will change as Africa becomes increasingly infected with the ideas of liberty.

2. If Botswana is now rich in natural resources, it always has been, obviously. Why, then, the sudden surge in wealth? What changed? Not the geologic makeup. The change was economic and political. More fundamentally, the change was ideological. What has changed is Botswana’s position on the Nolan Chart.

3. It is not “possession” of natural resources that creates wealth, but the EXPLOITATION and LIBERATION of those resources, and in a way that generates a profit. Businessmen, no matter how high their “IQ,” will not risk their capital if the political environment is excessively predatory. Adding liberty to the economic soil, on the other hand, improves the health of the money trees.

1. The idea that you put forth about all nations in Africa possessing vast natural resources (only that they are untapped) is blatantly false. Some do some dont. If we are to use your theory, then Japan is also resource rich, as is Albania, or even Uruguay. Natural resources are not evenly distributed throughout the world or Africa.

2. Some resources are easy to access some are not. For example thousands of years ago early man relied on surface accumlations of copper and iron ore. These were easy to access and do not require much investment of time or capital. Today to access ore requires staggering amounts of time and money. So while Botswana’s neighbors may or may not have the same abundance of natural resources, those resources may be much more difficult to access. I do know that precious metal and stone mining in these areas began because of surface deposits which dont exist (or to much lesser extent) in neighboring regions.

And to reiterate one more time. I do beleive that adopting more liberal political and economic policies is very important and is one reason why Botswana is at the head of the African class.

3. We are in perfect agreement.

@MMMark

@Southern

So if you can find in the data linked where a statistical anomaly is leading me astray, I would honestly ask you to point it out.

It’s not “statistical anomalies” that I have a problem with; it’s the idea of using U.S.A. “poverty” statistics, by race, to address the question “Why is Africa poor?” The “poor” in America, irrespective of IQ or race, enjoy a higher standard of living than many Africans, because America enjoys a higher degree of liberty than many African countries. The example of Botswana only corroborates this.

Agreed, liberty enriches us all. Your contention is that liberty is the only reason africa is poor. Mine is that it explains a great deal but not all. I used the example of the US because it shows that even with equal institutions of liberty there is a disparity.

You initially countered by saying that you doubt there was a disparity between races in the US. Which by all measures there is. Now you are saying that poverty in america is unrelated to poverty in africa. But that is not the context in which I was using the statistics. I used them to demostrate that free institutions while very important dont explain away all.