The wealth and poverty of nations
by David S. Landes · first published 1998
44% recommend56% neutral
David S. Landes tells the long, fascinating story of wealth and power throughout the world: the creation of wealth, the paths of winners and losers, the rise and fall of nations. He studies history as a process, attempting to understand how the world's cultures lead to - or retard - economic and military success and material achievement. Countries of the West, Landes asserts, prospered early through the interplay of a vital, open society focused on work and knowledge, which led to increased productivity, the creation of new technologies, and the pursuit of change. Europe's key advantage lay i
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age old bureaucracy, coupled with a very hierarchical mindset (the spanish monarchy protocol was famous for its complexity) - what do you expect? as david landes notes in his quite brilliant book, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, exactly this mindset ruined Spain, Latin and South America. While the USA took off like a rocket. if you think that modern times have no relation to the past come visit spain and try to get internet…
on “US visa woes? Pah. Try getting into Spain” ↗The Wealth and Poverty of Nations - David S. Landes Agree or disagree with his findings, but it was the first book I read as a teenager that tried to connect seemingly disparate things into a single narrative - culture, technology, luck.…
on “Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?” ↗…addition to the previous referenced material if you want to correct that disadvantage and learn the fundamentals. Debt, the first 5000 years by David Graeber The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landes
on “Are You Ok?” ↗On the topic of economic development, David Landes is worth reading, both the Unbound Prometheus and The Wealth and Poverty of Nations provide a solid understanding of the reasons behind the development of Western Europe over the past 500 years. The 5 Dragons (Taiwan, South Korea, HK, Singapore, Japan) followed pretty much the same…
on “The Glass Famine” ↗Mostly Economics Recommendations here. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations by Landes are both pivotal works related to economics. The first book describes the fundamental underpinnings of the requirements for economies to work at the micro level. Its written in a very easy to…
on “Ask HN: Book Ideas for Math, Physics, AI, Economics” ↗…structures, (lack of)property rights, monopolistic industry, etc,) and its major failings which is why most people say its responsible for more deaths than any other system (Nazis, Mao, etc). From there, Wealth and Poverty of Nations by Landis and you should then be able to competently speak.
on “Why America’s Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave” ↗The Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith), and its follow-up The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (Landis). Having been written in 1778 it still stands prominent with regard to its descriptions of how markets work, and the importance of the division of labor. The latter book, also describes common…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023” ↗…relations, eventually those with options leave, and the locals pay the price as prosperity dries up. You would think a politician would have educated themselves enough to have read classics like the Wealth and Poverty of Nations, but we do live in an age of avarice, deceit, and hubris, where only the short term matters. As for me, I would never move to, nor do business in New York knowing how the state government there operates.
on “New York breaks the right to repair bill as it’s signed into law” ↗…failure. Most people also don't realize as the world heats up you have to suddenly start dealing with problems only commonly found in the tropics but now at the northern latitudes. If you've read the Wealth and Poverty of Nations, you'd know why the northern latitude countries were able to develop rapidly whereas the tropical latitudes were averse to human life and husbandry. There are parts of Africa where microscopic parasites…
on “Why are Americans dying so young?” ↗Its David Graeber, and the book is good. I had similar epiphany's with The Wealth of Nations, and Wealth and Poverty of Nations. These things should be taught in public education but aren't, likely because of ideological indoctrination. Unbacked debt breaks the guard rails for rational pricing of both products and labor. In…
on “How to Subvert a Democracy, Stage 2: Condition the Masses” ↗…post, there's a lot of fundamental material you need to be aware of. I'd instead refer you to a very solid book by David Graeber called Debt, The first 5,000 years; and then The Wealth of Nations & The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, for a more broad economic understanding (when things actually worked). Following those two, Bridgewater's Report (Ray Dalio) Big Debt Crises will give you sufficient background to understand what they…
on “Risky bank debt makes customers safer” ↗Check Richard Lynn's Intelligence and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations The top countries on that list are Japan(110),Hong Kong(107) and Taiwan(104).Germany and Singapore are tied at 103.
on “Jewish Nobel Laureates” ↗…recommended, have listened to several episodes multiple times. Contex: Same author as how it began, but simpler in production and focuses more on the context of something: like Guns Germs and Steel; the wealth and poverty of nations and so on. The podcast is only a few episodes in.
on “Ask HN: What podcasts are you listening to?” ↗This was discussed in at least 3 books that I remember. Guns, getms and steel, why nations fail and the wealth and poverty of nations.
on “Why warm countries are poorer” ↗…become psychotic in their madness and act out violently against innocents before being killed themselves, some will simply wither and eventually die. This is documented historically in a book called "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations", in the chapters of the effects of the Spanish Inquisition, and the expansion to South America. Inevitably, all paths lead to what? (slavery, then death, which is destruction). Meeting the definition.…
on “Google rejected me and now I'm building a search engine” ↗