Why are rich countries rich and poor countries poor?

[xena2]

Some of these poor afican countries like Sudan for instance have massive wealth in mineral assets like gold, diamonds, oil, timber ect but the western countries always stiff them on the deals and thats only if the leaders of these countries haven't stolen everything for themselfs and fled the country to live in luxury exile somewhere else.

Some eich countries are rich and some poor countries are poor simply because those rich countries has strong alliances that helps them por each other to remain on their state of luxury and wealth while those poor countries were poor because they don't have the alliances or support from countries who are rich because of competitions of who are more powerful. Being rich means power.

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[tranquangvinh]

I think a country that is considered poor is due to its high corruption and its political activities are unstable. My country has been very corrupt and politically unstable, at the same time my country is very poor.

[Wayan_Pedjeng]

I am living in a "poor" country, and there are many reasons why we are poor. Lack of education, corruption and over-population are a few of the reasons.

[leanhtuan]

It is difficult to avoid the notion of rich and poor, the concept of rich and poor country  is a measure of the speed of development of a nation,  just like going to school with good students and weak students. That is why we learn the concept of comparison

[Aishiteru]

why are rich countries rich and poor countries poor?

Rich countries are wealthy reflects on how smart and wise the President in governing the country . Good leadership , smart and wise strategy of such officials of the country results on a productive country . If the officials are corrupt and lack of skills in developing and improving the country it will surely make the country poor.

[zoom_rich]

Entities such as the Word Bank makes them debt slaves. It is pure evil when a country is poor due to such evil. It benefits humanity, because the more advanced countries the higher chance of  a good invention being created.

[bitctrimor1]

So I was just surfing the web during my downtime and the internet being a rabbit hole that it is, I realized I got to this page....  http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20010817233944data_trunc_sys.shtml

Having read Guns, Germs and Steel before (as well as watching the documentary on Youtube), I was really surprised that the difference can be attributed to simple things like frost.

This got me thinking, if you believe the poor countries are already locked in to their fate by the cards dealt them, does this mean they are blameless for their current situation? Did colonialism really messed them up or it simply exacerbated an existing problem? And how can poor countries overcome the challenges to becoming 1st-World?

That is a pretty critical topic to tackle. One's country's riches are very subjective, but if you are talking about assets, reserves and gross earning from exports and all other contributing factors. I think it goes down on a matter of what country has the most sources of natural resources and how they utilize it to gain profit. Also, one factor is the size and how the market is accepting their products. USA is such a big country with lots of natural resources at its disposal. On the other hand, South Korea, even if it is a small country, has a great economy because its products are prime commodities today like cars and tech gadgets.

[reymartH]

In the rich nations, the elected governments owe a lot to their citizens and try their best to please them. They are in power on account of them and cannot afford to neglect them. In the less developed countries, the Government once they come to power, forget the needs of the people and are busy sorting out their vested interests. Corruption is higher in these countries and the people do not enjoy all the benefits of prosperity. Only a few do.

[Intellecual Romanticist]

Well, I don't think we should compare the economy of an old country to a newborn country.
Imagine comparing the walking speed of a 1 yr old child and a professional athlete, doesn't make any sense right?

Not everything can be measure by numbers alone.

Some countries were only born like 50 years ago. While some countries like the UK, Egypt, Greece were born how many milleniums ago?
Of course, in terms of accumulated wealth, they will always have more.

[ongta]

Rich countries be come more rich because they are never stop to built up they financial.And they have big opportunity in working to gets many money and different to poor countries.They living in very limited to have a good jobs because of corruption and over population.

[Xester]

Rich countries be come more rich because they are never stop to built up they financial.And they have big opportunity in working to gets many money and different to poor countries.They living in very limited to have a good jobs because of corruption and over population.

Yes because leaders there are not corrupt.  They really serve his country and countrymen unlike to countries which are poor.  They serve his country and not serve his personal interest like corrupting to have more wealth.  But sometimes, poor countries are still poor because they are oppressed by these rich countries.  These rich countries were the one using the natural resources of the poor countries.

[GabeLogan420]

Well it depends on the government that is developing the country. NU and not a small influence depends on the very location of the country.

[Tron]

Good question. If you would study history for a bit you'd knows that all these effects have their roots way way back. Economic interests predominated since the first people in one way or another.

[Hifemih]

Rich countries are rich because they av good leaders and vice versa

[Sithara007]

Rich countries are rich because they av good leaders and vice versa

Even the leaders won't be able to do anything, if the general population is not interested in their own welfare. I can give you dozens of examples. The first one that comes to my mind is that of Thomas Sankara, the former President of Burkina Faso. He was one of the best African leaders of all time, and still he was assassinated by his own people. Another example is that of Patrice Lumumba of Congo.

[Clickcluck]

Try books and lectures of Noam Chomsky. This guy explains well this "paradox" of poor and rich countries

[jimmihenrikh46]

The subject of discussion is the difference between extractive and inclusive economic institutions. Extractive puts forward extortion, dredge, tap and suck the wealth of one layer to enrich another layer. While being inclusive is creating a just market, giving people the freedom to choose a job, and providing a fair competition for everyone to compete.

[mylifeisorandom]

Some countries are rich because of their good leader and the discipline that the people have. While some countries have difficulty in their economy maybe because corruption is very much alive and there is no discipline with their people.

[hotcoin1234]

So I was just surfing the web during my downtime and the internet being a rabbit hole that it is, I realized I got to this page....  http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20010817233944data_trunc_sys.shtml

Having read Guns, Germs and Steel before (as well as watching the documentary on Youtube), I was really surprised that the difference can be attributed to simple things like frost.

This got me thinking, if you believe the poor countries are already locked in to their fate by the cards dealt them, does this mean they are blameless for their current situation? Did colonialism really messed them up or it simply exacerbated an existing problem? And how can poor countries overcome the challenges to becoming 1st-World?

I believe rich countries are rich because they got good government that are able to have the foresight for the country future development like attracting companies to set up in the country improving the economy and the employment rate..... As there is a saying rich become richer poor become poorer.... i guess some government might be corrupted and lead to the country being poorer and poorer