Malcolm there are several reasons why China does better than India economically.
1....Temperate climates are always better than sweltering climates which notoriously lead to people going troppo even though they are brought up to work and productivity. Look around the world and you'll see a belt of wealth in the temperate zones. This doesn't apply to the southern hemisphere because the temperate zones are few. Africa has low average IQs so they can't be wealthy unless they get really good political systems, which on chicken and egg principles, they can't get either. Australia and NZ are wealthy.
2....Religion, as you say, is a soporific and can lead to repression of the productive. It's hard to invent orbiting satellites if you believe that the world is flat and gaol or burn at the stake anyone who disagrees.
3....Capital importation and accumulation. India threw out the British but kept the British disease. Socialism has softly suffocated India for half a century, but they go on voting to be poor, because they are ignorant. Their average IQ is only about 100, so as with China and other countries, it can take a long time to understand that socialism is not a good idea for economic activity. Britain wallowed in the British disease for decades too. Karl Marx hung out there while he [economically useless himself] invented a useless economic system to foist on the foolish.
4....Sealed borders. India wouldn't allow capital in or out, foreigners were suspect, British were persona non grata, the colonial yoke was thrown off and the baby was thrown out with the bathwater. Sure, one could visit, but foreigners couldn't start businesses. Neither could locals! Government and union permission was required and onerous terms imposed. Even as recently as now, cyberphones aren't let loose to compete for customers. Cyberphone approvals are all red tape and bureaucracy. That's the same in Europe and the USA too, so India is in good company.
5. Voting themselves poor. Ignorant people vote and people get what they vote for. Turkeys voting for an early Xmas holiday shouldn't be surprised when somebody with an axe comes knocking on the door. They don't understand that they are voting themselves poor. They are voting for something else to happen. But because their ability to understand causal relationships is limited, they get the law of unintended consequences ruining their lives. China doesn't get a vote. Maybe if they get democracy they'll start voting for fewer hours of work and more pay! Yeah, that's the ticket. And an early pension. Cool. Free medical treatment. Yayyy!! The democratic curse of diffuse costs and concentrated benefits might destroy their economic progress in a decade.
6....Did I mention British Disease? It's a separate category really. They threw out the British but kept the disease. They even tried throwing out English language in the early 1990s, but I believe the young ones have told the silly old culturally-obsessed fools that English is the lingua franca, and the road to riches, or at least out of poverty.
7....The average Indian verbal IQ is only 81. China must be about 95 to 100 though it's not listed here [scroll to the bottom] lagriffedulion.f2s.com [see Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong]. National IQs are directly related to wealth, just as they are for individuals. Smart people do better than dull ones. Which is hardly surprising.
There's more, but that'll do for now. Having a prime minister who thinks it a good idea to drink a glass of his own urine each day [PM Desai] is an indication that things aren't all hunky dory.
Mqurice |
