The Reasons Why Nations Remain Poor
In 1776, Scottish economist and philosopher, Adam Smith, wrote the ‘The Wealth of Nations”. It was also the year the United States adopted the Declaration of Independence, making the American colonies independent and thus no longer a part of the British Empire.
America has since evolved to dominate the old British Empire. The Americans, figuratively, were discipled by Smith who believed in the free market and made his argument that ‘capitalism’ will benefit mankind more than any other economic structure. Smith made his case about the ‘invisible hand’ and why monopoly, undue and unfettered government regulations or interference in market and industry must be discouraged.
Then, American farmers could grow cotton, but would not process it. It had to be sent to England where it would later be imported into the U.S as a finished product (sound familiar to Nigeria’s crude oil?).
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Smith's theses were influential; they provided the same level of fulcrum to Economics as Isaac Newton’s Mathematica Prinicipia to Physics. Or in modern times, Bill Gates’ Windows to the information economy.
In this piece, I take you back to the reasons why nations remain poor .