How did Europe become the richest part of the world?

Re:How did Europe become the richest part of the world? by zozbot234 on Sunday March 20, 2022 @03:53PM (#30746011)

> Unfortunately, there is no politically correct answer to this question that allows study of what Bangladeshis could have done or could do differently.

Development economics studies this question, and the general answer is still the one Adam Smith came up with in the late 18th century: good institutions matter the most, even more than geography. There's a few easy case studies, like comparing North Korea with South Korea. Same geography, same historical heritage, same ancestry... Why do they achieve so differently? "Different institutions" is the sensible answer to that question.

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Re:How did Europe become the richest part of the world? by rayiner on Sunday March 20, 2022 @05:04PM (#30746601)

But what creates good institutions? My dad was a university student when Bangladesh became independent. He has high hopes for a secular, constitutional social democracy. It was all there on paper. And two decades later he left the country disillusioned to raise his kids in America.

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Re:How did Europe become the richest part of the world? by zozbot234 on Sunday March 20, 2022 @05:12PM (#30746682)

Well, if you compare Bangladesh to Pakistan it's easy to see where secularism has helped Bangladesh quite a bit. Much of Bangladesh's growth potential seems intact while it's hard to make the same case re: Pakistan.

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Re:How did Europe become the richest part of the world? by ip26 on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @12:24AM (#30838748)

But what creates good institutions?

I’m not personally familiar with Bangladesh, but one phrase rings in my mind: the consent of the governed

Secular social democracy only really works if people mostly believe in the institutions.

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Re:How did Europe become the richest part of the world? by dustypotato on Monday March 21, 2022 @03:57AM (#30751451)

There was also the genocide of Bangladeshi educated elite by the Pakistani military

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Re:How did Europe become the richest part of the world? by Osiris on Sunday March 20, 2022 @04:47PM (#30746460)

Yes. I studied International Politics and we definitely studied the question of why some countries are more prosperous than others.

The expand on your point about institutions, removing corruption (rent seeking by public servants) is a key part of strong institutions because corruption decreases their effectiveness.

The other institution that is extremely necessary for a prosperous country is free press. Free press is critical to removing corruption and strengthening institutions by criticizing when things aren't going right.

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Re:How did Europe become the richest part of the world? by zozbot234 on Sunday March 20, 2022 @04:54PM (#30746519)

There is no one institution that's "most important". You're most likely right that "having a free press" helps countries at the leading frontier of development, but many countries are very far from that level. Famously, many East Asian countries managed to become fairly prosperous while being basically dictatorships from a political POV.

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