You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. China's development has nothing to do with culture and everything to do with free market reforms undertaken in the late 70's and early 80's.
A fantastic read; seconded. In short: if you're trying to start a culture from scratch, llamas suck. It's hard to overcome starting advantages of nutrient rich, easily replicable crop strains and readily-domesticated livestock / horses.
he said culture of treating education with utmost regard...not simply culture...education is the key...its the one resource that trump any drawback.
And pray tell where education comes from? Here's a hint: it's not from these overly simplistic explanations of cultural emphasis upon education. If a government isn't taking steps to provide/encourage education for its citizenry, all the enthusiasm for education in the world won't matter one bit.
hm... you lack the knowledge on the cultural importance of education in Chinese society. due to Confucianism, education is absolutely one of the most important thing in China for thousands of years. in the past, it was the only way to join the elites if you are not born in that class.
it has a lot to do with culture. China was the wealthiest country in the world before the Opium war. and that had nothing to do with free market economy. it just happens that in the late 70's and early 80's, that method was the obvious choice to become rich again.
This is wrong. Latin America did attempt to use tariffs to keep foreign products overpriced and thus create demand for domestic products. It was an abject failure. The ISI model failed miserable. In contrast, Asian nations built their economies around exporting to foreign markets instead of trying to build strong domestic ones.
This is true. The studies bear out that those nations with greatest resource dependence tend to have authoritarian regimes, bad governance by those regimes, etc.
Your overly simplistic assertion that cultural values are what distinguish poorer countries from the wealthiest is laughable at best. I guess the Chinese didn't stress upon education in the decades preceding their economic growth.
There are probably different reasons for different countries. Lack of substenence producing land creates competition for food, so society is centered around the aquisition of food which prevents education and development. Throw in tribalism with imaginary lines drawn on maps instead of around cutltural heritage, creating waring factions, add in a little bit of subtle interference by outside countries, throw in some military juntas and then top it off with some high interest world bank loans. Self perpetuating misery.
I can't remember that I wrote that many words in that post. Here's what I think on how to begin addressing poverty in Africa. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=3775450&postcount=35 Has anyone seen Adam Curtis's documentary "Pandora's Box"? It goes into how Ghana started off as the prototype nation for African ascendance only to be saddled with debt and a hydroelectric dam that didn't power their citizens for a long long time. Economic cold wars are pretty nasty. Pens are mighty, but the dollar's mightiest.
You can, and it may indeed learn, but, even with that knowledge, it'll still just spit and crap all over the place. (I'm racking my brain of all Simpsons and SimCity 2000 llama references, but other than horse/water, I'm coming up blank on this one.) Guns, Germs & Steel, illustrated: WIN: FAIL: The history of poverty in the world: dromedary milk + yams vs. wheat + corn seed + sirloin steak + 2% skim + Paul Revere + leather jackets + Bacon Bits.
you are correct. that wasn't the case before the economic growth. in fact, during the decade of cultural revolution, especially after the first couple of years, all schools were closed. my parents didn't even go to school at all. it was when economic reform started that they went back to college and graduate school. what he said about your earlier statements was a bit harsh, but nonetheless somewhat true. the whole point of cultural revolution was to get rid of the old system. Confucianism and values of education importance were under attack. so after a hundred and fifty years of war and chaos, it wasn't until late 70's and early 80's that the country got back on track again.
