Beorn
Permabanned
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2008
- Messages
- 5,005
It's not that simple unfortunately.
Basically, even with the best legal system, when you're born poor, chances are you will stay poor your entire life.
There are lots of other factors involved, and most of them aren't that "local": We live in a global system. The way rich countries interact with poor countries also matters a lot.
Sure, there are plenty of other complications, but my point is this is the most fundemental problem. Besides being poor in the west is NOT the same as being poor in a developing country. Even so a legal system won't get rid of poverty completely, but it goes a long way in explaining the difference between the richest countries and the poorest. If the poor don't have access to capital and can't leverage their assets they will stay poor no matter what. Even with little in assets the exponential growth possible through leverage can be astounding. This is especially true because in many places like africa and south america many of the poor are actually entrepreneurs. Economist Hernando DeSoto did a decade of research on the differences between the first world and the third and his conclusion was that property law was the key difference. I'm not discounting that market manipulation and worker exploitation also have a dramatic effect on the poor.