Landes\' Conclusions in the Wealth and Poverty

¶ … Landes' Conclusions

In The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor, David S. Landes analyzes the distribution of wealth in his study of world economics. Landes writes that the key to the current inequality between the rich and poor nations of the world stems directly from the industrial revolution, in which some countries made the leap to industrialization and became extremely rich, while other countries failed to adapt and remained poor.

Landes concludes that the achievements of Western nations are rooted in culture, rather than just technology. Therefore, he believes they could have taken place nowhere else because technology itself is just a product of culture. The values that produced scientific and industrial progress also produced the entire culture of modernity. Because of these values, Landes says, Western civilization provided better for its people than any other.

The West grew with more wealth, more comfort, better health and nutrition, more enlightenment, and more liberty, for the overwhelming majority of people, than any other nation. The rest of the world did not embark on the modernist revolution until taught, or dominated, by the West, according to Landes.

Landes' approach to debating the topic of the wealth and poverty of nations is an interesting and convincing one. He studies the history of economic development over the last several decades to point out patterns in the development of the world's economy. He shows how European society encouraged technological and organizational innovations, which eventually let Europe surpass and dominate the rest of world.

However, in taking the historical approach, Landes fails to point out the reasons why some countries were able to industrialize and others were not, including factors like climate, and natural resources. Instead, he writes mostly about the reasons he believed that some nations were more successful. His theory is that the ability to affect an industrial revolution is dependent on certain cultural and technical traits.

If these cultural traits do not exist, industrialization is impossible to sustain. Landes contrasts the traits of successfully industrialized nations, including work, thrift, honesty, patience, and tenacity, with those of non-industrial countries, pointing out that unless these values are internalized by all nations, the gap between rich and poor nations will continue to grow.

According to Landes, poverty throughout the world today is the result of failure on the part of political, religious, and mercantile elites to pass the test of maintaining or regaining independence from and assimilating the technologies demonstrated by the people from Europe -- merchants, priests, and thugs with guns of the past, and multinationals, international agencies, and people armed with cruise missiles of the present. He describes at length how Europe made money "on the backs of Amerindians, African slaves, indentured servants."

Landes draws attention to the fact that Spain ended up falling behind despite the wealth it received from overseas. Landes argues that this is because Spanish society discouraged new ideas and drove off valuable people who did not agree with the religious orthodoxy. Landes points out the similarities between colonial Spain and the present-day OPEC nations, both of which are unable to convert valuable resources into a long-term industrial infrastructure.

Landes argues that we cannot assume that all nations benefit from technology equally, as countries do not start out with the same advantages and disadvantages. It may be possible that a nation with substantial economic tools at its disposal will not need the same amount of technology to succeed and grow that a more unfortunate nation will need in order to merely survive.

Landes writes that Third World societies must be holding back industrial development, due to the fact that the Third World is relatively underdeveloped compared with Europe and America. However, he does not go into detail about the cultural and geographical disadvantages of the area.

Landes also points out that China was the most scientifically advanced in the earlier part of the millennium. However, he fails to offer a convincing reason for why China lost its edge. He also states that a poor nations' chances are worsened when governments are corrupt, identifying "a not uncommon "combination of mismanagement, profligacy, corruption and... bad government" that produce a situation in which "the clocks go backward as well as forward." However, he does not say how corrupt governments are created or allowed to stay in power in some countries and not others.

Landes believes that it is in the best interests of rich as well as poor people to see this gap between wealthy and poor nations narrowed. However, he says that progress toward that goal requires us first to recognize that the causes of this division are neither merely contemporary nor even recent, but historic and very longstanding.

Landes says that to change today's conditions, we must first understand that they have their roots deeply embedded in the past. His philosophy holds, through a historical study, that countries that have hard-working people, avoids hardening of the scientific-technological and administrative vein, keeps both elites and laborers from getting too much, invests in research and development, and accommodates to market forces will eventually become rich and dominant in the world.

Landes uses history to explain his point. The Spanish and Portuguese allowed temptation to rule their country, and fell behind as a result. The Dutch were honest and focused, and became rich, as did the British and Americans, who became the world leaders.

A approve of Landes approach to showing how the West's economic success is largely attributed to technology, including the ability to use, adapt, and invent new technologies; the encouragement of literacy and learning; the relative openness and flexibility of political systems and social institutions. Landes says that Western Innovations that spurred growth were simple things like eyeglasses, but nonetheless they helped the West grow.