Why is Africa Poor?

[MMMark]

Tues. 10/03/23 16:20 EDT
.post #24

@Southern

One exception dosent suffice.

Well, I wouldn’t call Botswana an “exception.” I think the example of Botswana is consistent with the idea that the proliferation of wealth needs a certain minimum amount of liberty, within a given society. I think that many of Africa’s other countries don’t meet this minimum. I’m not really saying anything very profound here, obviously.

@Southern

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.

But has Saudi Arabia, in fact, “abandoned liberty”? Surely, their society respects property and contracts to at least the minimum degree?

@Southern

Natural resources are not evenly distributed throughout the world or Africa.

But by the same token, surely they don’t all “happen” to be situated within the borders of Botswana, either. That was what I was trying to get across.

@Southern

Some resources are easy to access some are not.

Two points here.

1. “Ease of access” hasn’t suddenly changed in Botswana.
2. Capitalists don’t care how “easy” a resource is to “access”; they care about whether they can make a profit.

@Southern

I used the example of the US because it shows that even with equal institutions of liberty there is a disparity.

I fully accept this. Liberty doesn’t eliminate “disparity,” but wealth tends to vary directly with the degree of liberty. Also, “disparity” is not the same thing as “poverty,” nor are the lowest earners necessarily “poor” (which becomes especially obvious when comparing poverty class U.S.A. to the general living standards of very poor African countries).

@Southern

You initially countered by saying that you doubt there was a disparity between races in the US. Which by all measures there is.

Here is what I said:

@MMMark

You imply that, given the same institutional factors, Black populations don’t perform as well, economically, as Asian and white populations. Even if we assume this is true (and I’m not convinced it’s true), this does not explain why some (Black) African populations are very poor, while others do better.

The bolded part is of what I said was really “what (I) countered” with. I don’t think U.S.A. “poverty” statistics are germane to the Original Poster’s question, which is “Why is Africa Poor?”

The questions of why we can see racial disparities on U.S.A. poverty statistics, whether these statistics constitute “all measures” of poverty or economic performance (and according to you, there are "…all sorts of measure that you could use… per capita income, infant mortality, literacy rates, life expectancy, etc.), how accurate these statistics actually are, etc., don’t impinge on the issue of Africa’s inability to keep developmental pace…in my opinion.

It just seems to amount to saying “Because they’re black…works just the same in the U.S.A. as in Africa.”
It doesn’t explain anything.