Why is Africa Poor?

[MMMark]

Thurs. 10/03/25 15:20 EDT
.post #37

@Southern

But still relative to the world in general it is still poor.

Substantiate this claim. Here’s an article, from 2002, to help you with that:

Today Botswana is one of Africa’s few enclaves of prosperity.

Here’s some more:

What accounts for Botswana’s sterling achievement? The easy answer would be diamonds, discovered under the desert in 1967. And diamond mining is indeed the keystone of the economy. But odd as it may seem, natural resources like diamonds, gold, or oil are often more of a curse than a blessing. Examples are chronically unstable Venezuela (oil) and the war-torn former Zaire (gold and diamonds). The better answer is that this peaceful democracy has largely stuck to free-market principles, even when its vast diamond wealth could have led it astray. Botswana keeps taxes low. It respects property rights and hasn’t nationalized any businesses. It avoids the corruption that easy money encourages, and doesn’t waste much money on grandiose air forces or white-elephant industrial projects. Indeed, Botswana is rated Africa’s freest economy by the Washington-based Cato Institute in its annual report, Economic Freedom of the World.

Back in 1966, Botswana wasn’t a model for anything. It boasted just three-and-a-half miles of paved roads and only three high schools in a country of 550,000 people. The per-capita income was $80 a year. Water was so scarce, and valuable, that the currency would later be named the pula, meaning rain.

Today Botswana is one of Africa’s few enclaves of prosperity. Per-capita income has jumped to $6,600. In a continent of weak currencies, the pula is strong, backed by one of the world’s highest per-capita reserves ($6.2 billion). Budget surpluses are the norm, and Moody’s Investors Service rates Botswana’s government bonds higher than Japan’s. Botswana’s world-class game parks are so free of poachers that they must cull their elephant herds. As a result the government is a leader in the fight to expand legal ivory trading.

@Southern

You believe that all people are the equals of all others.

@MMMark

…people are different. This is true everywhere.

@Southern

I have never said that IQ is only reason botswana, or any other nation is rich or poor. Yet you keep asserting that I have.

@MMMark

[url=Why is Africa Poor? - #212 by MMMark]Your explanation, as I understand it:

Negroes have lower IQs than whites, which results in lower economic performance than whites exhibit, except in the case of countries with “EASILY ACCESSIBLE” NATURAL RESOURCES. Then, the country becomes rich, even if the country lacks a minimal degree of liberty.[/url]