Lee Kuan Yew on Malta

Re:Lee Kuan Yew on Malta by rayiner on Saturday January 20, 2024 @11:16AM (#39069044)

Lots of former British colonies have posh enclaves surrounded by poverty. Singapore’s GDP per capita in 1960 was similar to Guatemala: https://cepr.net/documents/publications/econ_growth_2005_11_.... And as the article noted, 20% of that was British military spending which went away with independence in 1965. The UK’s per capita gdp was more than 5 times higher.

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Re:Lee Kuan Yew on Malta by thriftwy on Saturday January 20, 2024 @12:28PM (#39070018)

Even in this table, you see Taiwan and South Korea with same impressive growth as Singapore, and then you see Thailand and Malaysia that fare very well. And they all have the handicap of not consisting out of a metropolis entirely, since capitals are known to have high GDPs per person and countryside is known to be lagging.

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Re:Lee Kuan Yew on Malta by rayiner on Saturday January 20, 2024 @01:11PM (#39070463)

All of those countries were poor too. I’m not saying Singapore was the only country to develop. But lots of countries that were similarly situated to Singapore and Korea in 1960 didn’t develop.

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