how can we make our country prosperous essay

Wealth of nations: Why some are rich, others are poor – and what it means for future prosperity

Distinguished Professor and Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology

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Amitrajeet A. Batabyal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Why are some nations rich and others poor? Can the governments of poor nations do something to ensure that their nations become rich? These sorts of questions have long fascinated public officials and economists, at least since Adam Smith, the prominent Scottish economist whose famous 1776 book was titled “ An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations .”

Economic growth matters to a country because it can raise living standards and provide fiscal stability to its people. But getting the recipe consistently right has eluded both nations and economists for hundreds of years.

As an economist who studies regional, national and international economics, I believe that understanding an economic term called total factor productivity can provide insight into how nations become wealthy.

Growth theory

It is important to understand what helps a country grow its wealth. In 1956, Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Robert Solow wrote a paper analyzing how labor – otherwise known as workers – and capital – otherwise known as physical items such as tools, machinery and equipment – can be combined to produce goods and services that ultimately determine people’s standard of living. Solow later went on to win a Nobel Prize for his work .

One way to increase a nation’s overall quantity of goods or services is to increase labor, capital or both. But that doesn’t continue growth indefinitely. At some point, adding more labor only means that the goods and services these workers produce is divided between more workers. Hence, the output per worker – which is one way of looking at a nation’s wealth – will tend to go down.

Similarly, adding more capital such as machinery or other equipment endlessly is also unhelpful, because those physical items tend to wear out or depreciate. A company would need frequent financial investment to counteract the negative effect of this wear and tear.

In a later paper in 1957 , Solow used U.S. data to show that ingredients in addition to labor and capital were needed to make a nation wealthier.

He found that only 12.5% of the observed increase in American output per worker – the quantity of what each worker produced – from 1909 to 1949 could be attributed to workers becoming more productive during this time period. This implies that 87.5% of the observed increase in output per worker was explained by something else.

Total factor productivity

Solow called this something else “technical change,” and today it is best known as total factor productivity.

Total factor productivity is the portion of goods and services produced that is not explained by the capital and labor used in production. For example, it could be technological advancements that make it easier to produce goods.

It’s best to think of total factor productivity as a recipe that shows how to combine capital and labor to obtain output. Specifically, growing it is akin to creating a cookie recipe to ensure that the largest number of cookies – that also taste great – are produced. Sometimes this recipe gets better over time because, for example, the cookies can bake faster in a new type of oven or workers become more knowledgeable about how to mix ingredients more efficiently.

Will total factor productivity continue to grow in the future?

Given how important total factor productivity is to economic growth, asking about the future of economic growth is basically the same as asking whether total factor productivity will continue to grow – whether the recipes will always get better – over time.

Solow assumed that TFP would grow exponentially over time, a dynamic explained by the economist Paul Romer, who also won a Nobel Prize for his research in this field.

Romer argued in a prominent 1986 paper that investments in research and development that result in the creation of new knowledge can be a key driver of economic growth.

This means that each earlier bit of knowledge makes the next bit of knowledge more useful. Put differently, knowledge has a spillover effect that creates more knowledge as it spills out.

Despite Romer’s efforts to provide a basis for the assumed exponential growth of TFP, research shows that productivity growth in the world’s advanced economies has been declining since the late 1990s and is now at historically low levels. There are concerns that the COVID-19 crisis may exacerbate this negative trend and further reduce total factor productivity growth.

Recent research shows that if TFP growth falls, then this can negatively affect living standards in the U.S. and in other rich countries.

A very recent paper by the economist Thomas Philippon analyzes a large amount of data for 23 countries over 129 years, finding that TFP does not actually grow exponentially , as Solow and Romer had thought.

Instead, it grows in a linear, and slower, progression. Philippon’s analysis suggests that new ideas and new recipes do add to the existing stock of knowledge, but they don’t have the multiplier effect previous scholars had thought.

Ultimately, this finding means that economic growth used to be quite fast and is now slowing down – but it’s still occurring. The U.S. and other nations can expect to get wealthier over time but just not as quickly as economists once expected.

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• Economic theories
• total factor productivity
• goods and services

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7 Factors That Make A Country Strong

Everyone knows there are strong and weak countries. Powerful countries have enormous global influence. There role in the world is projected to almost all corners and people feel the effects of the decisions they take. Weak nations are often ignored on the global stage, and struggle to protect their economic and security interests. But what makes a country strong? What factors are key to the strength of a nation? Well… let us explain…

1. Strong Countries Have Large Economies

A first factor that makes a country strong is having a large economy.

A country’s economy is the total financial and material outputs that the country produces. Essentially, the bigger a country’s economy, the richer it is. Having a large economy makes a country powerful because it provides more resources that the country can utilise.

The world’s five largest economies – the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and India are all major global powers. Other strong countries, such as France, the United Kingdom and Italy, also have large economies. It’s clear that being a major economic power is key to a country’s strength.

Having a large economy means a country has the resources to fund aspects that increase its power. Strong militaries, global businesses, promoting a country’s culture abroad and utilizing soft power all cost significant sums. Countries with large economies have the revenue to fund areas such as these and this further adds to their strength.

Countries with large economies are able to provide a decent standard of living for their citizens. This makes their people happier and more productive. It also makes the country more stable, as people are more invested in the status que. This is a further reason why having a big economy makes a country stronger.

2. Having A Big Population Makes A Country Powerful

A second factor that makes a country strong is having a large population.

Generally, the most powerful countries in the world have many people. China, India, United States, Indonesia, and Pakistan, Nigeria and Brazil all have populations over two hundred million. Other major global powers, including Egypt, Japan, and Russia, also have large populations. It’s clear that having more people adds to a country’s strength.

Having a large population makes a country strong for several reasons. Firstly, it simply provides more people to be economically productive – set-up and run successful business, develop new technologies and study in new emerging areas – all factors that make a country more powerful. Secondly, having a large population means a country can have a bigger and more powerful armed forces. Thirdly, having more people means a country can better project it’s itself internationally – there are more people to engage with foreign endeavors.

Not every country in the world that is strong has a huge population. However, every country in the world with a very large population is a global power. This shows that having a lot of people is a key factor that makes a country strong.

3. Being Geographically Large Adds To A Country’s Strength

A third thing that makes a country strong is being geographically large.

Many of the most powerful countries in the world are also the biggest. Russia, Canada, China, the United States and Brazil are the top five largest countries by geographic areas – they are also major global powers. Even countries that would be considered ‘middle powers’ but are large geographically are seen as strong countries – think Australia, Brazil, and India. It’s clear that nations that cover large geographical areas are stronger as a result.

There are many reasons why being large geographically makes a country strong. These include having more resources at the nation’s disposal, being easier to defend militarily, and often having a larger population and economy. Being a large country also makes a nation dominant in its region – further adding to its strength.

Like with having a large population – not every global power is large geographically, however all the countries that do cover huge areas are considered strong countries. It is harder for smaller nations to be seen as major powers on the world stage.

4. A Large And Powerful Military Is Vital For A Strong Country

Another major factor that makes a country strong is having a powerful military.

The countries with the largest militaries in the world include North Korea, China, and Russia. These are also considered to be strong countries. However, even smaller countries that have large armed forces, including India, the United States and Vietnam, are considered to be powerful simply by the fact they have a large standing army. Having a large and well-equipped military is a key thing that makes a country strong.

Countries with powerful armed forces are strong for several reasons. One is that they are harder to attack. This gives the country strength as it provides it stability. Another reason why having a large armed forces makes a country strong is because it can attack other nations and defeat them. This ability to threaten other nations add significantly to a countries global power.

Being able to successfully defend itself from attack, as well as being able to win wars against other nations, is one of the oldest, and most obvious, things that makes a country strong.

5. Strong Countries Have International Alliances

A further thing that makes a country strong is having a network of international alliances.

In the modern, globalised world, countries need to work together. Trade and defence, as well as economic, academic, and cultural links, all depend on nations cooperating with others to forward their mutual interests. Being able to work with other countries, especially major global powers, is a key factor that makes a country strong.

Many strong countries have formal alliances. NATO , the European Union, the CSTO and African Union are all examples of formal alliances between nations. These alliances improve national defence, boast economic integration, create deeper culture ties, and improve how nations cooperate. All countries become stronger by being members of formal alliances such as these.

As well as formal alliances, many powerful nations also have a looser network of countries that they work with. The United States, for example, is not in a formal alliance with Taiwan. However, the countries have close economic and defense ties, which improves their mutual security and provides a boost to both their economies.

It is clear that having strong alliances, both formal and informal, is an important factor that makes a country strong.

6. Understanding Soft Power Makes A Country Strong

One important thing that makes a country strong is being able to effectively use soft power.

Soft power is how nation influences global affairs through cooperation, rather than coercion. Strong countries are able to use soft power to forward their economic, security and strategic interests without having to resort to force.  It’s a major way that countries project their power.

There are many aspects to soft power international relations. Soft power can include everything from promoting a nations culture abroad to providing international humanitarian aid. Creating a good image for a country around the world is also one way that nations build strength by using soft power.

For a country to be truly powerful, it needs to harness soft power. Although hard power – military might and forcing other countries to act, can be effective, it is not a long-term solution for a country to ensure its interests are met. Strong countries use soft power effectively to co-opt others to meet their interests.

7. Strong Countries Are Active In Global Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the managing of international relations. It is how countries officially communicate, build ties, form alliances and work together.

One way that strong countries exercise their power through diplomacy is the establishment of foreign embassies. A countries embassy is its official outpost inside another country. Strong countries, such as the United States, China and the United Kingdom have embassies in almost every country in the world. This gives them a network to build relations, gather information and liaise more easily with foreign powers.

Another way that countries can use diplomacy to become strong is through international organisations such as the United Nations . The UN is the major forum for global diplomacy. Being active within the United Nations , and similar international bodies, helps a nation to ensure its strategic interests are protected. It can also help a country build connections with friendly nations and form blocks to work towards their shared goals.

Having an effective diplomatic corps, as well as being active in international organisations, is a major factor in making a country strong.

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What Makes a Country Great? And How Can We Make Ours Better?

In honor of Independence Day and the patriotism that we all feel towards our country, let’s veer off the personal finance path for a moment. For starters, if you have read the Declaration of Independence , Constitution , or Bill of Rights lately, please do yourself the favor. No better day than today.

After that, let’s start the conversation with this question:

What makes a country “great”?

I think this is a particularly important question that we all ask ourselves at this point in time. There are a lot of things that divide us, but one thing that unites us, or should unite us, is that we want to see our country succeed. We want it to stay great and become even better.

Let’s set aside what we have been as a country or currently are for a moment and start with a blank slate, with a little exercise. What do you personally think makes a country great? Before you get to my list below – I’d encourage you to make a list of your own so that we can compare notes, without influence.

I have high standards, but shouldn’t we all have high standards? I think it’s difficult for a country to be great without some form of the following:

• a truly democratic vote. One person, one vote. Every vote is equal and representation is fair and just. Voting is encouraged (not suppressed), accessible, quick, and easy – the higher the participation, the better.
• an election system where political contributions are publicly funded or capped at levels accessible to all incomes and corporate and private dark money/influence is kept out.
• separation of powers – a system of checks and balances.
• an independent and free press.
• good, impartial local journalism.
• the rule of law matters. Nobody is above it.
• significant and continued investment in shared infrastructure.
• a fair and just legal, court, and prison system.
• equal access to data and information (ideally via strong local libraries and a speedy broadband connection).
• diversity in backgrounds and opinions.
• broad and equal guaranteed human and civil rights, liberties, and freedoms (speech, religion, voting, assembly, press, etc.).
• an investment in people through an affordable education and works skill that leads to opportunity for economic/financial success for all.
• kindness/care for its citizens and for the citizens of other countries.
• a desire to fill the role as a shining light of good for other countries.
• broad consumer rights and protections.
• harsh punishment for government and corporate corruption and corporate anti-trust.
• strict protections for the water that we drink, air that we breathe, and land that we walk on.
• an emphasis on data, science, truth, and transparency in the government decision-making process.
• strong employee rights that put an emphasis on health, safety, the right to form a union, equal opportunity, equal pay for equal work, and family/life balance.
• affordable health care for all as a right, not a privilege reserved for only the wealthy.
• economic justice and a muted level of economic inequality.

Realistically, our country scores high marks in at least a third of these, average marks in another third, and we are very inadequate in the final third. Let’s take a second to appreciate what we do have, but understand that we should never take it for granted. There are those who actively aim to chip away at these bedrocks for their own personal gain. We have to fight to keep what we have and fight to advance what we don’t.

We must also be wary of ‘shortcuts’ that can appeal to our frustrations and base instincts but will always leave us worse off in the long run:

• homogeneity.
• individualism at the expense of the collective good.
• authoritarian rule and tyranny.

Next, I would encourage you to become active, if you are not already. I believe that our country is suffering from a bit of an identity crisis because there is a lot of disengagement and armchair criticism going on. Surely, none of us thinks this country is perfect, and if you’re not happy with the status quo, the only way to improve it is to get out, get involved, and help make this country better.

How can YOU help make our country better? Pick one or two of the items from your list or mine that you feel the most strongly about and find ways to get involved:

• donate effort and money to organizations that support those objectives.
• vote (electorally and with your dollars).
• hold your elected representatives accountable to doing what is best for the country (at times this may differ from what is best for you personally).
• consider becoming a public servant or running for office.
• engage and discuss with everyone, not just those who agree with you.
• lead with empathy and love. Treat others as you would want to be treated, but expect nothing in return.

If this country is going to improve, we have to come together for the common good. We have to work to improve the institution, not destroy it. Progress has never come easy.

Happy 4th, everyone.

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America is not perfect. She has her imperfections, but she has what most envy – Freedom & Opportunity. Never give up on that gift.

I love that this post encourages others to become active. No matter how big or how small, make a change for the better EACH DAY. Say “thank you”, hold a door for a stranger, find a person who looks to be having a rough day and buy them a cup of coffee, be relentless in giving back.

God bless our Great Nation and all nations. May we all come to our f*cking senses and quit the stupidity towards others. After all, isn’t the joy we experience during time with our family and friends matter most?

I’m confused whether you’re asking what makes a country great or what makes great government. IMO a government should be small and protect the people, while allowing them to be productive and enjoy the fruits of their labor. A country is as good as its people. People are at their best when they are honest, caring, charitable and motivated to be productive.

A lot of what I highlighted is connected to government policy, but surely not all. It’s rare to have a great country without great government policy. It’s easy to have a bad country with bad government policy. It’s also an input that can tangibly change, for better or for worse.

G. E. Miler, Thank you for the article. I would love to see our country promote citizenship in a very tangible way by offering a substantive service program for our young men and women. I believe that the greatest divide our country faces is the disconnect between those that contribute to the health of our nation versus those that only take our resources. Men and women from 18-21 should be given a chance to build our country through their efforts and I would propose generous benefits such as paid tuition, housing assistance, and health care for our young adults who commit to a short period of duty. Service to country in the National Parks, road commission, or long term health care facilities are a few examples of where to send our nation’s future leaders to learn what it means to be a citizen. We can build a better country best by investing in our youth.

Ayuuup. I think we have a very long way to go. In many ways America has improved (especially during the 20th century), but dang, there’s so much more we have to do. I’m hoping the current political climate will subside and we can get back on track again.

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How do countries grow rich it's much easier than you think.

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Economists have been talking for decades about why some countries get wealthy, and some do not. It was the subject of Adam Smith’s famous book, The Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations . I suggest that the secret could be expressed in four words: Low Taxes, Stable Money . I call this the Magic Formula .

The reason for this is simple. The primary way that countries have become wealthy is via capitalism. Capitalism works best with stable money and low taxes.

If taxes are too high, and money is too unstable, capitalism – the incredibly complex arrangement of relationships that allow humans to cooperate together in vast networks of investment, production and trade, via the market system – becomes impaired, or collapses completely.

Recent books like Why Nations Fail , by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, take up this fascinating subject for our own age. In general, they tend to focus on a menagerie of what I would call secondary factors, while missing the foundational importance of the Magic Formula.

If you don’t have the Magic Formula, you might maintain a decent standard of living. Many European countries maintain a high standard of living today, despite rather high taxes. But, they didn’t become wealthy this way. If you look back into the history of Germany or Japan, or the United States, you typically find a period when the Magic Formula is in full effect. Most of the gains are made during these eras.

In U.S. history, most of the gains were made in the 1870-1914 period, the 1920s, and the 1950-1970 period. Today, we have neither Stable Money nor Low Taxes. The result? The U.S. median male full-time wage has stagnated and declined for forty years .

When hopeful emerging countries imitate this example – the strategy that has produced four decades of stagnation in the United States – they find that they too stagnate, but at a much lower level.

Some communist countries have had periods of substantial progress. The Soviet Union, despite its flaws, was actually quite successful in the 1950s and 1960s. However, even this was dependent on Stable Money. Once the currency fell apart in the late 1980s, the Soviet Union itself disintegrated soon afterwards. Most other communist experiments did not go so well as this.

When the Magic Formula is in place, it tends to create an environment of increasing wealth and prosperity. Usually, there is enough of an indigenous tradition of contract and ownership – what legal experts call “common law” – that business can prosper. The government is popular, which leads to political stability. Over time, various legal, judicial, regulatory, educational, administrative, governmental and other institutions are established, typically by imitating successful models in developed countries.

Yes, we all love education – to take one example of what I am calling a “secondary factor.” But the fact of the matter is, most successful economies are built by self-educated businessmen, who are in turn empowered by the Magic Formula. In the United States, we seem to have our own tradition of the college-dropout-turned-business-mogul. On a smaller scale, this can be a neighborhood restauranteur or auto repair shop. These people create the jobs, which then creates the demand for the education to fill those jobs, where technical book-learning is necessary. Henry Ford didn’t know how to build an automobile.

Formal contract law and a sophisticated judicial system form one institutional foundation for capitalism in the United States and Britain. However, Asian countries like China or Japan, where formal contract law is vague and the judicial system somewhat unreliable, have also been very successful, as long as they have the Magic Formula.

Asian countries have also been quite successful with capitalism despite having little in the way of democratic political institutions. China remains “communist” today, although this is just a contemporary term for the kind of mandarinate governments that have been running China for centuries. Japan’s first great age of wealth-creation, the Meiji era of the late 19th century, took place mostly with a mandarinate government. Hong Kong was never democratic, while Singapore and Malaysia kept the same leaders for decades. South Korea had a military government until 1987. Taiwan had a one-party state until 1986.

The Magic Formula worked in Asia anyway, no matter what kind of government they had.

When the Magic Formula is forgotten – when taxes are excessive and money is unstable -- the resulting economic decay delegitimizes the government and all of its institutions. Bribery becomes the norm among government officials. High taxes are evaded by everyone. Contractual commitments become comedy in an environment of currency collapse. Corruption saturates all levels of the government, as theft of existing resources becomes a surer avenue of personal wealth-creation than productive business endeavor. Institutions of all sorts become dysfunctional and oppressive. The government is unpopular – at times so unpopular that civil war, secession and revolution erupt everywhere. Business becomes impossible. This is happening in Greece and Spain today, not surprisingly in places where the tax systems have become comically oppressive.

Today, you have a successful capitalist economy, or you have nothing. It is the foundational source of economic productivity, which we call “wealth.” It functions best with Low Taxes and Stable Money.

The Magic Formula is just four words. It is supposed to be easy to remember. However, today many governments are going the other way. With “quantitative easing” the fashion worldwide, money threatens to become a lot more unstable than it already is. Tax rates are generally heading higher throughout the developed world.

Even the flat-taxers of Eastern Europe are headed the wrong way. Effective January 2013, Slovakia, with a 19% flat income tax system, raised its corporate tax rate to 23%, and introduced a second 25% tax bracket for higher personal incomes. The Czech Republic voted to introduce a second 22% bracket, on top of the existing 15% flat income tax. Russia, a former superstar, raised its payroll tax to 34% in 2011, from 26%. Ugh.

At some point – not today, obviously – people are going to be looking for new solutions. Remember the Magic Formula. When you have the Magic Formula, you can gain everything else as well. When you don’t have it, all else will crumble before your eyes.

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Creating Unity in a Diverse Society

Yuval Levin, Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and Editor of National Affairs, contends that America's founding ideals can create unity amidst our pluralism.

Yuval Levin is Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he also serves as the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. The author of A Time to Build , Levin believes that local communities are uniquely positioned to address modern challenges, including doing the hard task of creating unity in a diverse society. Levin, who immigrated to the United States from Israel with his family when he was in third grade, served in President George W. Bush’s administration.

He spoke with Chris Walsh, Senior Program Manager of the Human Freedom Initiative at the Bush Institute, and William McKenzie, Senior Editorial Advisor, about creating room for pluralism and diversity. The founding editor of National Affairs , Levin contends that America’s founding ideals can create unity amidst our pluralism. He also comments on Europe’s identity challenges in the video clip included above.

Let’s start with this question: How do you define “we the people”?

That’s a beautiful and broad question. The assertion of “we the people” at the beginning of the preamble to the Constitution was an aspirational move. It didn’t describe something that had already been achieved and was there, it described a goal as much as a nation.

National unity in a diverse society is always an ambition and aspiration. But we’re not a new society now. We’re a country with a long common history together. An important piece of that history has been our ability to adapt to demographic and cultural change. So, too, is our ability to come together as a country in times of need and to stand together in normal times.

National unity in a diverse society is always an ambition and aspiration. …We’re a country with a long common history together. An important piece of that history has been our ability to adapt to demographic and cultural change.

The fact that the Constitution begins that way is a beautiful marker of how the United States, unlike many other societies, defines itself by the ideals and principles that hold it together. “We the people” describes a society that holds in common a commitment to equality, liberty, and dignity, that allows itself to be defined by that common commitment. We now have more than two centuries of history trying to make that a reality. Our society can be unified by both those ideals and that common history.

We’re obviously a diverse country. So how do you create a common narrative in democracies with diverse populations?

The United States has faced this problem for a long time. In a sense, it has always faced this problem. It has dealt with the challenge both by grounding itself in understanding its ideals and principles and by building a common heritage. That common history is not rooted in ethnicity, but in the common experience of American life.

Our great guide is Abraham Lincoln, who embodies in his thought, rhetoric, and actions how our ideals define us and how what he called the “mystic chords of memory” can hold a society together. We can all harken back to that common experience. But it is rooted not in a traditional kind of national identity, which often is ethnic and divisive. Instead, it is rooted in a distinctly American story that is, among other things, a story of openness.

I would never want to downplay the difficulty of the challenge of holding together a diverse society. That is an extremely difficult challenge, as we learn every day in America and are learning at this very moment.

For liberal democracies that may lack a Lincoln, how do they create the conditions to welcome diversity?

We’re very lucky to have had a Lincoln and to have had other great leaders who have helped us through this challenge. But the need to welcome diversity while also being a liberal society and a democratic society means allowing majoritarianism to give direction to our public policy and our national life. Majoritarianism sounds nice until you’re in the minority, and the challenge we always face is how to protect minority rights while also empowering broad and durable majority views to govern.

The American Constitution is an answer to that question and can be of use to other democracies too. The Constitution looks at the challenge as not choosing between majority rule and minority protections, but instead choosing both and creating a balance between them. 

This means creating institutions that allow for accommodation between different groups in society. In our system, that institution is particularly Congress, and we suffer when Congress is weak, as it is in this moment. When Congress is weak, we lack the ability to reach accommodations and compromise. 

You want institutions that encourage compromise. You want to build a culture of tolerance that is not a culture of nihilism, that doesn’t ignore what people think the good is. We are home to people with different views about that question and we can find ways to respect their different views while also holding us together.

It’s essential that there is some agreement about basics, such as the equal dignity of every person. That is fundamental to democratic life. And we cannot do without that belief. Once we have that, then we have a framework that can allow for a fair amount of balance between majoritarianism and respect for minorities.

This also requires of the citizen an attitude of devotion to that society. What do we mean when we say this is my country? Do we mean I belong to this country or do we mean this country belongs to me? Those are very different ways of thinking about the responsibility of a citizen.

What do we mean when we say this is my country? Do we mean I belong to this country or do we mean this country belongs to me? Those are very different ways of thinking about the responsibility of a citizen.

To say this is my country means that my allegiance is here. I define my obligation as a responsibility to my fellow citizens. It does not mean that this country belongs to me, so my group, my community, gets to dominate and everybody else must answer to us. It’s important in America that we recognize that none of us gets to simply own this place. 

We have an obligation to this place that’s rooted in gratitude and a commitment to its principles. But it’s a hard balance to sustain. And you see it in every diverse democracy. 

You are an advocate of finding solutions to problems that are closest to where people live. What role, then, does localism play in creating room for diversity and pluralism, including making room for immigrants?

Localism is enormously important to how the United States has dealt with this problem and how successful societies in general have done so. We can look at other diverse democracies from Canada to India to see how allowing some freedom for communities, not just for individuals, can enable people to have the sense that they live in a community that takes them seriously. At the same time, they live in a diverse society where not everybody agrees with them about everything.

That demands a degree of tolerance that can be difficult to achieve. We have to be willing to say, “This is how we do it here, they do it differently on the other side of the country, but we’re one society.” There are different ways of living within the broad boundaries of a single nation and its identity.

The United States has always been very good at this. If you want to be hopeful about American life at this point, it makes much more sense to look at it from the bottom up. I can imagine very few of our problems being readily addressed from Washington, but I can see many of them being addressed in local communities.

People there see each other face-to-face. They recognize that sometimes our way of life might not make sense in theory, but it makes sense in practice as we live together as neighbors and take each other seriously and respect each other.

This is what a liberal society ultimately amounts to. And it involves an enormous amount of tolerance and accommodation, while enabling communities to be morally meaningful and to live out their views about the good. 

To me, the kinds of problems we have, which are challenges of belonging and alienation and failures of community-building and affiliation, can only really be addressed at the community level. As a nation, we can enable different communities to address these problems in their own ways for their people. Through that, we can build an allegiance that adds up to a national identity. 

That’s America. That’s the American story. That’s the American secret.

As a nation, we can enable different communities to address these problems in their own ways for their people. Through that, we can build an allegiance that adds up to a national identity.  That’s America. That’s the American story. That’s the American secret.

So, how do we create a welcoming society that integrates immigrants and refugees into our common ideals and common story?

Some of it is civics education and a traditional sense of learning about that history. Some of it is also the nature of the ideals and principles that help to define that American story and American experience.

Here, too, I would look to Lincoln. He gave an amazing speech in 1858, where he talked about how many of our people are not descended from the founders. They can’t look back to their fathers as the source of their national identity, but there’s something else they can look back to. 

I made sure to have this here with me, so I can read this one passage from this extraordinary speech. Here is the quote:

“But when they look through that old Declaration of Independence, they find that those old men say that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and then they feel that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relations to those men. That it is the father of all moral principles in them and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration. And so they are.” 

As an immigrant myself, I’ve always found it so powerful that by integrating these ideals into your own understanding of the human person, of politics and society, you become a child of the founders yourself.

As an immigrant myself, I’ve always found it so powerful that by integrating these ideals into your own understanding of the human person, of politics and society, you become a child of the founders yourself.

Unlike many societies, we enable people to become part of this community by taking on some of these truths that we hold together. Our history is a story of this kind of integration. It can speak to new immigrants in a way that says, “You’re the latest chapter in a long story that is a great story of success and can continue to be.”

That’s a great passage. Are there local communities where you see Lincoln’s words alive, integrating immigrants and their families into the community? If so, what is working?

We can find a lot of examples of Americans being a very welcoming society. I find those in my own experience.

I came to the United States when I was eight. My family came to Northeast Philadelphia. Looking back, there were enormous challenges and I found it very difficult as a child. I’m just shocked by the amazing, welcoming attitude of just about everybody around us, who looked for ways to be helpful, including children in school.

I was in third grade. It could easily have been a nightmare, but it wasn’t. The sense that we welcome people who are new here and understand that this is how the country builds its future, runs very deep for a lot of Americans. 

How can we have a common national identity while at the same time having people maintain their own particular ethnic, social, or cultural identity?

This is an important, enormous challenge. We have to see how our differences are something that we bring to the table in America. 

They’re not all that we bring and they’re not all that we stand to gain. We’re not just insular factions fighting for turf in American life, we’re a society. We get to be Americans together, and that means we get to benefit from the distinctiveness of different communities in our society, including our own community. But that requires us to respect others and allow other people to draw on their roots and to live within their own communities, even as they live in that larger society.

Some of this is recognizing the complexity that’s inherent in federalism and subsidiarity and the notion that most of life is lived close to the ground. It’s not lived at the national political level, especially in a country as big as ours. It is lived at the level of family, community, religion, and school. There can be an enormous amount of diversity, even in a country that ultimately defines itself by a commitment to certain common ideals.

It can be very hard to articulate a philosophy that opposes the inclination now to identity politics. But that inclination is extremely dangerous and destructive for our kind of society. We have to see this is one country made up of distinct communities and ultimately of distinct individuals.

We have to see this is one country made up of distinct communities and ultimately of distinct individuals.

You started to go down this road, so how do we in a free society maintain an identity, but not weaponize it through racial, religious, or ethnic national sentiments?

There’s a tendency in identity politics to say that our differences are what matter most about us. Our differences matter, but they’re not what we are ultimately about. Our society looks to draw on the best of a diverse array of communities and individuals. That means we ultimately are working towards cohesion and cannot stop at the level of our differences. We have to look for what can unite us and bring us together.

Identity politics lazily gives up on that and says, we are where we start, we are what we are by our ethnicity, by our race, what we’re born with, and that’s it. And we have to arrange a society that recognizes the reality of these distinct and insular communities. 

But our society has a much higher ambition. It ultimately looks to achieve an integration that doesn’t lose the distinctiveness of its different communities.

This is very hard to do. Sometimes, it’s practically impossible. But in the effort to do it is where we are our best selves as Americans.

• Jul 24, 2024 Media pluralism glossary of terms By: William McKenzie, Chris Walsh
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Fifty Ways To Make India A Developed Country And A World Super Power

The following article talks about the various measures which if adopted by Indian government can make India not only a developed country but a world super power. India has the potential of becoming a super power & it can become so if the following fifty steps are taken by the Indian government.

India is a rapidly developing country but at the same time it is facing lot of problems both internally & externally & India can become a developed country & a world Super Power only if these problems are eradicated. Following are some of the ways which can make India a developed country & a super power – 1) By controlling rapidly increasing population Rapidly increasing population is the biggest menace which India is facing currently as over population is the root cause of most of the problems like poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, pollution, crime etc. India is the second most populated country of the world after China & unless India takes some effective steps to check population India can't become a super power as it is the biggest hindrance in the progress of country. 2) By eradicating poverty In India still millions of people live below the poverty line & as long as there is poverty in a country it can't become a developed country. So Indian government must take some serious steps to eradicate poverty from the country so as to make it a super power. 3) By increasing literacy rate Illiteracy also acts as a hindrance in the development of a country as an illiterate person can't contribute in any way in the progress of a country. So illiteracy should be eradicated from the country by providing free & compulsory education to children as well as to uneducated adults. 4) By checking unemployment Unless problem of unemployment is addressed by creating more employment opportunities for the people India can't become a super power because unemployment means lot of human resources of the country remain under utilized or unutilized which could have been used for the progress of the country. 5) By eliminating pollution Pollution is also an impediment in the progress of a country whether its air, water, noise or radioactive pollution since pollution affects the competence of an individual through various forms of illnesses like headache, high or low blood pressure, asthma etc. & an unfit person can't contribute effectively to the progress of a country. 6) By checking the crime rate A peaceful country can progress much more than a country with a high crime rate. So, efforts should be made by the Indian government to check the crime rate in the country by making some effective laws & equally effective implementation of those laws so as to make India a super power. 7) By adopting zero tolerance against corruption Corruption is also a big obstacle in the development of a country as it badly affects the economy of a country. Corruption is rampant in India & India is placed 87th in the international corruption index. So, unless corruption is eliminated from India by adopting zero tolerance approach towards corruption & by making some effective laws India can't become a super power. 8) By bringing back the black money stashed abroad Thousands of crores of black money of India is stashed abroad in the foreign banks by various influential persons of India which is badly hampering the progress of Indian economy. Unless serious efforts are made by the Indian government to bring back that black money India can't become a developed country. 9) By becoming self sufficient in food grain production A country can't become a super power unless it becomes self sufficient in the production of food grains i.e. capable of feeding its population through its own produce & without any foreign aid. India hasn't reached to that level as yet. So to become a super power India must increase its production of food grains that can only be done by bringing new & latest agricultural techniques. 10) By proper storage of food grains Since it is a well established fact that only that country can become a super power which is self sufficient in food grain production & there are two ways to reach that level. First way is by increasing the production of food grains & the second way is by proper storage of such food grains. In India millions of tons of food grains are destroyed every year due to lack of proper storage facilities in India. So, if Indian government can build enough storage houses to store the food grains India can become self sufficient in food grains which in turn will make India a developed country. 11) By maintaining good relations with foreign countries A developed country is one which maintains good & friendly relations with all the foreign countries of the world. So to become a super power India must keep good relations not only with powerful countries like USA, Russia, France, England & Germany but also with hostile countries like Pakistan & China. 12) By strengthening democracy Although India is the most happening democracy of the world yet it must make constant efforts to strengthen that democracy since only a democratic country can become a super power because only a democratic government enjoys the support of its people since it is elected by them & without the whole hearted support of people a country can't achieve the status of super power. 13) By countering terrorism Terrorism is the biggest threat to the stability of a country since an unstable country can't become a super power. So to become a super power India must make serious efforts to eliminate terrorism from the country whether it's the terrorism in Kashmir or the Naxalites & Maoists operating in various other parts of the country. 14) By political accountability Politicians in India enjoy vast & unrestricted powers which are not enjoyed by any other politicians of the world. There is nothing called political accountability in India because of which politician indulge in various kinds of illegal & corrupt practices like crime, anti social activities, corruption etc. which seriously hampers the development of the country. So there is need of strict laws in India to put a curb on the unrestricted powers of the politicians & to punish them for their misdeeds. Unless this is done India can't become a super power. 15) By judicial accountability Apart from politicians if there is anyone else who enjoys such vast powers in India it is the Indian judiciary. In India there is lack of not only political accountability but judicial accountability as well because of which several judges also indulge in various illegal & corrupt practices which in turn hampers the progress of the country. So some strict laws must be made to check the vast powers of judges & to punish them for their illegal & corrupt practices. 16) By performing fundamental duties Twelve fundamental duties are provided under Article 51A of constitution of India for Indian citizens. If these duties are performed by the citizens it can help a lot in the development of the country so as to make it a super power. 17) By adopting proper Income tax policy Income tax policy of India should be little more lenient & must not put extra pressure on the citizens. A good income tax policy can encourage the people to pay the taxes & refrain from tax evasion which in turn would put a check on black money which is one of the biggest hindrance in the progress of India. 18) By equitable distribution of natural & other resources of the country A country can become a developed country only when all of its states are developed & this is possible only when the central government equitably distributes the natural & other resources of the country between all the states. 19) By developing under developed states Since only a developed state leads to a developed country. So it is the duty of the government of India to invest more money & efforts in those states which are under developed & backward so as to make them more advanced. In India several states are developed while few are under developed which should be given special treatment to make them developed states if India wants to become a super power. 20) By becoming self sufficient in the field of defence India still largely depends upon countries like Russia, Israel, USA & France for its defence equipments whether it's the aircrafts, tanks, spy satellites & so on. Unless India starts manufacturing all its defence equipments itself it can't become a super power. So, Indian government must make some efforts to become self sufficient in defence equipments. 21) By overcoming shortage of electricity In India there is acute shortage of electricity due to less supply & more demand. Electricity is needed not only for household purposes but also for industries & other commercial purposes. Unless enough electricity is provided to these industries they can't increase their output which is necessary for the development of the country. Moreover there are various villages in India where there is no electricity & unless electricity reaches all the Indian villages India can't become a super power. 22) By organizing big sporting events India can show the entire world that it is a rapidly developing country & a potential super power by organizing mega sporting events like Olympic Games & Football world cup which are a great international platform to showcase the entire world the might of a country. 23) By improving the standard of living of people People of developed country have a high standard of living as the governments of those countries provide lot of basic facilities to their citizens. Indian government must do the same to improve the standard of living of people of India & thereby making India a developed country. 24) By rapid Industrialization A country can become a developed country by establishing new industries & factories as these industries are a major contributor to the national income of a country. So, industrialization is another way to make India a super power. 25) By space exploration A country can show its power to the entire world by way of space exploration. Although India has sent a man in space i.e. Rakesh Sharma & an unmanned mission Chandrayaan 1 on moon but these efforts are not enough. So, India needs to send several manned missions to moon & other celestial bodies to show the entire world that India is a fast emerging super power. 26) By resolving the Kashmir issue Kashmir is an international dispute between India & Pakistan because of which thousands of people are loosing their lives in Kashmir every year due to terrorism. The government of India has to spend thousands of crores of rupees to maintain law & order in Kashmir. So, if the Kashmir issue is resolved the same money can be utilized for development works in India. 27) By repayment of international debt India is still under millions of dollars of international debt which is badly affecting the progress of Indian economy. So, unless that debt is repaid by India with interest Indian economy can't be strengthened & India can't become a super power. 28) By strengthening its nuclear capabilities Although India became a nuclear power a long time ago but India needs to make continuous efforts to develop its nuclear capabilities by developing new nuclear weapons which is absolutely necessary to become a super power. 29) By international trade International trade not only improves the relations of a country with foreign countries but it is also a good source of national income. So, India can become a developed country by increasing its international trade with other countries. 30) By controlling fundamentalists In every country there are certain sections of people who are called radicals or fundamentalists. These persons are the biggest obstacle in the development of a country since they are opposed to every change whether it is beneficial for the country or not. So, if India wants to become a super power it must check those radicals & fundamentalists operating in the country. 31) By checking human rights violations A country can be called a developed country only when there are no cases of human rights violation in the country or even if there are such cases they are strictly dealt with. So, India must put a check on human rights violations in the country & must strictly deal with those cases if it wants to become a super power. 32) By abolishing reservation Reservation is another major factor which is hampering the progress of India. In India preference is given to caste over merit in the matters of public employment which not only hinders the development of the country but also leads to class conflicts. So, India must abolish reservation completely if it wants to become a super power. 33) By putting a check on election expenses In India thousands of crores of rupees are spent by candidates in the national & state elections which badly affects the economy of the country as it is a completely wasteful expenditure. The same money can be utilized to develop the country. So, India must curb the election expenses of the candidates by making some stringent laws so as to make India a super power. 34) By controlling inflation Price rise or inflation is the biggest factor which badly affects the economy of a country as it diminishes the value of Indian rupee in the international market & puts the essential commodities out of reach of a common man. So, India must take some effective steps to control inflation if it wants to become a developed country. 35) By proper utilization of natural resources Various natural resources are found in India like petroleum, coal, iron etc. but the same are not properly utilized. If India wants to become a world super power it must make sure that all its natural resources are properly & fully utilized as these resources are scarce & for that India must use the latest technology to extract & utilize those natural resources. 36) By encouraging renewable sources of energy India must encourage the use of renewable sources of energy like solar energy, wind energy etc. to satisfy its needs of power & electricity since these resources are unlimited in supply & can help in solving the problem of power shortage in India so as to make India a super power. 37) By having hi tech army, navy & air force If India wants to become a super power it must provide the latest & best technology & equipments to all the three wings of its forces i.e. army, navy & air force since only hi tech force can defend a country effectively against all kinds of dangers. 38) By increasing the forest area Indian government must make efforts not only to increase the forest area but also allow plantation of trees in all public places as trees help in reducing lot of problems which India is facing currently like pollution, floods, earthquakes, soil erosion etc. & if these problems are solved India can become a developed country. 39) By having a strong democratic government If India wants to become a world super power it must have a strong democratic government which should not come under anybody's pressure & must not hesitate in taking bold decisions if such decisions are beneficial for the country. 40) By providing some freedom to its artists & scholars Artists & scholars of a country like painters, writers, actors, directors etc. bring lot of name & fame to the country at the international level through their work & thereby project a powerful image of the country. So, India must provide some freedom to its artists & scholars by saving them from vexatious & frivolous litigation if it wants to become a super power. 41) By promoting harmony & universal brotherhood India is a multi religions country where people of different religions live together like Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians etc. So, there is need to promote the feeling of harmony & universal brotherhood among the people if India wants to become a developed country. 42) By eradicating unnecessary customs, traditions & superstitions India is gripped in lot of unnecessary customs, traditions & superstitions which are prevalent in India since time immemorial. These customs, traditions & superstitions are hindering the progress of the country. So, India needs to eliminate such fruitless customs, traditions & superstitions if it wants to become a super power. 43) By eradicating gender bias In India despite of lot of advancement in every field of life a girl is still considered to be a liability while a boy is considered to be an asset. That's why the sex ratio of girls in India is continuously falling. Therefore, if India wants to become a super power it must eradicate this gender bias from the mind of people. 44) By revamping the judicial system Indian judiciary is over burdened with work because of which people have to wait for years to get justice. That's why people lose faith in the judiciary as justice delayed is justice denied in many cases & a country can't become a super power unless it enjoys the faith of people. So the Indian government must do something about this problem by opening new courts & employing more judges. 45) By protecting the fundamental rights of citizens Fundamental rights provided by the Indian constitution to the citizens & non citizens are the basic rights for the existence of a human being unless the same are properly protected by the government India can't become a super power. 46) By privatization of various public sectors Efficiency of private sector is much more than public sector & that's why private sector can contribute much more than public sector to the national income of the country. Therefore if India wants to become a super power it must privatize all the public sectors to improve their efficiency except defence and law & order. 47) By improving transport & communication throughout the country Good transport & communication facilities like roads, railway tracks, telephone, internet etc. play a great role in connecting & developing the whole country. So in order to become a super power India must develop its transport & communication facilities. 48) By proper implementation of government plans & schemes The duty of government is not limited to making development plans & schemes rather it is also the duty of government to ensure that those development plans & schemes are properly executed at the grass root level & unless this is done India can't become a developed country. 49) By revamping the education system The education system of India is quite monotonous as various subjects which are taught to students are useless. No innovative subjects are introduced for the students that can help them in future. So if India wants to become a super power it must completely revamp its education structure by providing the students facilities to choose only those streams which they like as that will help in their overall development. 50) By encouraging poor but bright students Indian government must provide proper facilities to the poor but bright & brilliant students in the form of scholarships, financial assistance etc. as these students can contribute a lot in the future to develop the country & make it a super power.

success is a journey not a destination this article is really very nice.

Increasing population is not something to completely despise of. It can be rather used as an advantage, Combining it with good human resource development, high rate of population growth can actually be a good thing for a country.

If you look closely and deeply, only making people educated(not only literate) will solve all problems.Be it hunger, poverty, over population, corruption, reservation and possibly everything. A good education system will solve all problems.I prefer more technological education because that brings real change.

Can abolishing the Reservations make India progress at faster rate? The correct answer is a big NO. It may create a better India, but not for the whole of its citizens since the deprived sections will continue to remain deprived and a hollow Country will not likely to be prosperous by such kind of acts, leading to internal disparities.

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What makes a country prosperous?

Tadas Šubonis

Towards Data Science

This year in Lithuania there are plenty of discussions going on how there is a need to introduce progressive taxes so the income inequality wouldn’t be so big (don’t ask me what’s big — the definition eluded politicians again).

But the same is happening all over the world — everybody is excited about income inequality and taxes, and there are lots of discussions going on about improving life for everybody and not a select few.

While income inequality is a bit controversial topic (see the video from 1990), I got interested in a bit more practical question that should matter to everybody — what makes a country prosperous? Actually, it should read more like “what makes life good for a citizen in a country” so we are clear, that it’s about the people that live in there.

What is really cool is that these days we have a lot of data and lots of methods that are readily available to analyse it (thank you Pandas and Matplotlib!). With the help of data, it is possible to make much more informed decisions.

Let’s dig in.

So what I’ve done? I’ve gathered every useful index available on various aspects of the country and ran some data analysis on the relationships between it.

There are quite a few indexes that I’ve found useful:

Quality of Life:

• World Happiness Report — measures happiness (doh) by combining multiple surveys and social factors.
• Human Development Index — includes things like life expectancy, education, and per capita income.
• Social Progress Index — measures the extent to which countries provide for the social and environmental needs of their citizens.
• Legatum Prosperity Index — the ranking is based on a variety of factors including wealth, economic growth, education, health, personal well-being, and quality of life.
• Education Index

These are going to be useful to define the quality of life in the country. In the end, these are the things that matter for a regular citizen in the country.

• Doing Business — combines multiple criteria on how easy it is to start a new business.
• Global Competitiveness Index — assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens by measuring the set of institutions, policies, and other factors.
• Corruption Perceptions Index — measures perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. Please note, that higher value means lower corruption.
• Gini Coefficient — assesses the magnitude of the difference between top earners and bottom earners.
• Shadow Economy scale — shows what percentages of the real economy is not taxed or monitored by the government.
• Government Effectiveness — captures perceptions of the quality of public services. More here .
• Research and Development e xpenditure

Most of the above define an economic environment of the country. Is it easy to open a business? How effective is the economy?

Also, there are some other more or less well-known metrics such as:

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
• Gross National Income (GNI) per capita
• Tax-GDP ratio — what percentage of economy is taxed
• Tax rate on commercial earnings (Commercial Tax Rate)— explanation is here but basically, it is a combined tax on businesses revenues
• Education Spending (% of GDP) — how much is spent on education as a part of GDP
• GDP by Sector (Agriculture, Industry, Services) — it was interesting to compare the data between countries with a different GDP composition
• Taxes on Goods and Services — basically a VAT in Europe and sales tax in the US
• Income and Capital Tax
• Life Expectancy
• Ratio of population living in rural areas

I chose to ignore things like Personal Tax Rate and Corporate Tax Rate as they are reported in the laws as often it is a progressive rate and just its highest rate is reported. The factual taxes on Income and Goods and Services as they are reported at the World Bank looks like a much better representation of the taxation level.

Next, I’ve put all of the countries in the spreadsheet and kept trimming the list down, until I was left with 75 countries that had data on all of the indexes mentioned above.

This introduced a certain bias that pre-filtered only the countries that are capable of tracking lots of different aspects of their life, but it also helped to remove certain outliers like authoritarian regimes, extremely underdeveloped countries, etc.

All of the data I’ve used is available in this spreadsheet on GDrive .

Brace yourselves for a lot of figures. I think that it is necessary to explore various aspects of the data to see better how different components interact. For example, if the economy is based on innovative products, it could be expected that it is also competitive and vice-versa.

The analysis part will consist of 5 pieces:

• taxes effect on economy and prosperity
• business environment effects on prosperity
• government efficiency and its impact
• impact on income inequality
• traits of prosperous countries

All of the figures are going to be scatter plots (because they are awesome to understand the relationships between the data) and it will include a linear regression fit to help us better gauge the relationship.

For example, in the figure above, each dot will represent a value of Legatum Prosperity Index and its matching value of Global Competitiveness Index for that one country.

Sometimes those regression fit lines can be misleading so the figures will include a number above them which is Pearson correlation coefficient and its P-value (a chance of a random result) in the brackets — this together with the line fit will give a much better representation of the relationship between the data.

And a short reminder about the Pearson’s coefficient:

• 0 and 0.3 indicate a weak linear relationship
• 0.3 and 0.7 indicate a moderate linear relationship
• 0.7 and 1.0 indicate a strong linear relationship

First of all, we will start with the income and capital tax .

As it can be seen above, there is little impact (or rather little evidence of impact) on social and economic factors such as Doing Business and Social Progress Index. What’s interesting, is that there is a weak positive correlation to Global Competitiveness Index so the argument that increasing taxes will hurt businesses is not necessarily true.

How about tax overhead on businesses ?

There is basically no relationship between the quality of life and the commercial tax rate. The same goes for the economy even though the correlation is negative and statistically significant on Doing Business Score. However, from the scatter plot we can see that it’s pretty much randomish.

The Goods and Services Tax :

If anything, it seems that a tax on consumption impacts economy negatively (GDP and GCI) while giving no positive effect on the quality of life.

This is getting a bit bizarre — it might start looking like we don’t need taxes at all to have a prosperous country. But let’s take a look the collected taxes as a ratio of GDP :

Finally, we are getting somewhere. This would strongly suggest that it is important to collect enough taxes to support the infrastructure and the quality of life of the citizens to have a prosperous and well functioning country. And as we will see with the corruption later, that might be the case indeed as it is more important to collect taxes more efficiently than to have higher rates.

To be honest, if we were to take Tax Ratio data from World Bank it wouldn’t show such a strong correlation but it seems that it is a lacking a good chunk of taxes such as social insurance. Also, a quick double check with a few countries has shown that the data available here looks much more realistic than the one from World Bank.

Let’s take it up another notch and rub it in:

There is NO evidence that any higher rates of the taxes above will allow collecting a bigger budget. Clearly, a different mechanism decides revenues from the taxes.

Business Environment

Let’s take a look how Global Competitiveness Index describes the quality of life in the country:

It’s a completely different picture altogether. We can clearly see that having a competitive and well-functioning economy will result in a high quality of life over all of the metrics:

• GDP per capita
• Human Development Index
• Happiness Index
• Legatum Prosperity Index
• Social Progress Index

The same goes for innovation :

Economies based on innovation have a clear advantage over the ones that aren’t. What about the ease of “Doing Business”?

It tells the same story — make it easy to run businesses and the people are going to have a higher quality of life.

We can see a similar effect of Research and Development Spending:

Countries that spend more on Research and Development can expect to be more prosperous, but judging from the scatter plots, it looks like the relationship flattens out at 3%.

However, the same can’t be said about the government spending on the education.

I was very surprised to see this. The effects on the economy are rather mild. Even the Education Index itself has barely any correlation at all with the spending.

Obviously, it can be seen that the government should spend at least around 4% of its GDP on the education to get anywhere at all but it seems that the sector is very inefficient as it fails to produce a stronger relationship.

However, it is nice that there is at least a correlation between R&D and Social Progress:

Government Effectiveness

Government officials are not going to like this one:

What a surprise — a well-functioning government that has less bureaucracy will result in a better life for people and businesses.

But that’s not all. Let’s take a look how corruption impacts the country:

Bear in mind that Corruption Perception Index gives higher values for less corruption. What the figure above tells us, is that basically there is no chance that country could be prosperous and that its people could live well if there is rampant corruption in the country.

A very similar story is with Shadow Economy :

This and corruption will kill any chances of having a high GDP per capita and any hopes about collecting enough taxes. People will live worse and businesses will be hard to run. There is no doubt of that from the data we see above.

Since this is a hot topic let’s take a look at Gini Coefficient and how it is impacted by the aspects we’ve analysed before.

The higher happiness, social progress, and prosperity weakly suggest that there is going to less inequality (or vice-versa). What’s surprising, is that stronger economy is connected to smaller income inequality (one could expect that in rich countries the inequality is higher).

The taxes don’t seem to have any effect on the income inequality at all:

Again, it strongly suggests (having in mind the things we’ve seen from the data before) that income inequality is not about the tax rates.

So what impacts the inequality?

It’s our good old buddies: corruption, bureaucracy, and the shadow economy.

Other traits of prosperous countries

While digging through the data, I’ve noticed a few other interesting things. Let’s take a look at the figure below:

Prosperous countries are not necessarily industrious and they do not need to have any natural resources. Also, countries that are still stuck with agriculture-based economies, are bound to be poor.

The modern economies are based on services and they can expect to have way fewer people living in rural areas.

Also, prosperous countries have way lower birth rate than the ones that are poor.

Finally, countries that have a high Tolerance and Inclusivity (taken as a sub-index from Social Progress Index), are doing much better than the ones that aren’t:

Obviously, before we run into conclusions, it is important to use some common-sense thinking. If life expectancy is positively correlated with Doing Business Ranking, it doesn’t mean that living longer will earn a better place to do business but it is most likely the opposite — good business environment will support life-prolonging policies such as better health care.

Also, things like competitive economic environment and the quality of life reinforce each other greatly — better economy could lead to a higher quality of life and that could result in a better economic efficiency.

Having that in mind, the main factors of a prosperous country seem to be:

• Economy based on innovation
• Efficient tax collection
• Efficient government
• Socially progressive environment
• Competitive business environment

Also, it is surprising that tax rates seem to have such a little effect on the prosperity of life while there is a clear relation to the collected tax on GDP. This could imply that tax policy is more about efficient tax collection and the way it’s spent instead of the tax rate itself.

Furthermore, it makes sense that properly implemented taxation correlates with the prosperity as it enables governments to fund things like education and healthcare.

So whenever somebody is going to say that we need to increase (or decrease) taxes, let them know that it sounds like a cheap trick. Instead, the focus should go to the things like:

• making it easier to open a business
• making tax collection more efficient and transparent
• having less bureaucracy
• putting cronies away

Finally, if you think that there are mistakes (it could be certainly so), please come forward with your data and results.

My thanks go to:

• Tautvydas Misiūnas and Andrius Zaveckas for reviewing this
• Mark Adam Harold for the great video with Thatcher

Written by Tadas Šubonis

Geek. Data Scientist. Software Engineer. Entrepreneur.

Text to speech

Prosperity. What makes a country prosper? Application Essay for HKUST - PERSONAL STATEMENT

Shnazy - / 1   Nov 3, 2014   #3 Great essay though but need I little improvement like : [i]I often find myself digging more about the topics discussed in class. I also try to always do my best, which is evident by reaching the top rank in class as My urge to explore more about my subject have resulted me to reach the top rank in my class.

Essay on Love For Country

Students are often asked to write an essay on Love For Country in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Love For Country

Understanding love for country.

Love for country is a strong feeling of respect and loyalty towards one’s nation. It is a deep emotional bond that people feel for their homeland. This love can be seen in our admiration for national symbols, history, and culture.

Importance of Love For Country

Having love for your country is important. It encourages us to respect our nation’s laws and values. This love can inspire us to work hard for our country’s progress. It can motivate us to defend our nation if it is in danger.

Showing Love For Country

There are many ways to show love for our country. We can respect its laws, celebrate its holidays, and learn about its history. We can also help our community, protect the environment, and vote in elections. These actions show our commitment to our nation.

Love For Country and Patriotism

Love for country is often linked with patriotism. Patriots love their country and are proud of it. They are ready to sacrifice for their nation if needed. Patriotism is about putting the country’s needs before personal needs.

250 Words Essay on Love For Country

What is love for country.

Love for country is a strong feeling of respect, loyalty, and deep affection towards one’s nation. It is a deep-rooted emotion that makes us proud of our nation, its history, and its culture. It drives us to respect our national symbols, honor our heroes, and contribute to our nation’s growth.

Importance of Love for Country

Love for country is vital for every citizen. It encourages us to work hard for our nation’s progress. It can inspire us to become better citizens and make our country a better place for everyone. It also helps us stay united, despite our differences in culture, religion, or language.

Showing Love for Country

There are many ways to show love for our country. We can respect our national symbols, celebrate our national days, and learn about our nation’s history. We can also contribute to our nation’s growth by studying hard, following laws, and helping others.

Love for Country and Patriotism

Love for country is closely linked with patriotism. Patriotism is about loving your country and being willing to defend it. It means standing up for your country when it’s right and working to make it better when it’s not.

In conclusion, love for country is a powerful emotion that can inspire us to be better citizens. It is an important part of our identity and a source of pride. It can bring us together as a nation and inspire us to work towards a better future for everyone.

500 Words Essay on Love For Country

Introduction, feeling of pride.

When we say we love our country, it means we take pride in our nation’s achievements, culture, and history. We feel happy when our country does well in sports, science, or any other field. We celebrate our national days with joy and enthusiasm because it reminds us of our country’s journey and the sacrifices made by our freedom fighters. This feeling of pride is an essential part of love for country.

Respect for Heritage and Culture

Our country’s heritage and culture play a significant role in shaping our identity. The traditions, festivals, music, and art of our nation give us a sense of belonging. We respect and value these cultural aspects because they represent our country’s unique character. This respect for our heritage and culture is another form of showing love for our country.

Responsibility Towards the Nation

Unity and harmony.

A country is made up of people from different religions, cultures, and backgrounds. Love for country encourages us to live in unity and harmony, respecting everyone’s beliefs and values. It promotes peace and understanding among citizens, which is crucial for the progress of a nation.

In conclusion, love for country is a powerful emotion that can inspire us to do great things for our nation. It is about taking pride in our nation’s achievements, respecting our heritage and culture, understanding our responsibilities, and promoting unity and harmony. It is not just about feeling but about actions that contribute to the betterment of our country. Therefore, every citizen should cultivate this love for their country as it plays a vital role in nation-building.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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12 Ways to Live More Sustainably

Every day we make choices in our lives that affect the environment, the climate and other species. From what we eat to how many children we decide to have, there’s a lot we can do to “choose wild” and reduce our environmental footprint to leave more room for wild animals and plants. Our individual actions matter — but we can’t do it alone. Share this page to inspire others and check out our action alerts for ways you can advocate for policy change.

Think twice before shopping. Ditch plastic and switch to reuse. Take extinction off your plate. Simplify the holidays. Choose organic. Ditch fast fashion and animal-based textiles. Be water wise. Drive less, drive green. Green your home. Boycott products that endanger wildlife. Fight for the right to choose when and if to start a family. Take action. Use your voice.

1. think twice before shopping..

Learn more about the benefits of secondhand shopping .  

2. Ditch plastic and switch to reuse.

Learn more about  plastics pollution  in our oceans and  the problem with plastic bags .

3. Take extinction off your plate.

Learn more about  how to adopt an Earth-friendly diet  and  beat food waste .

4. Simplify the holidays.

Learn more about how to simplify the holidays and have more fun with less stuff.

5. Choose organic.

Learn about how we’re fighting to stop the most toxic pesticides .  

6. Ditch fast fashion and animal-based textiles.

Read about greenwashing of the wool industry and the harms of fast fashion .

7. Be water wise.

Learn about safeguarding water for people and wildlife .

8. Drive less, drive green.

Learn more about  transportation and global warming .

9. Green your home.

Learn how to  keep cool without the climate cost  and  weatherize for wildlife .

10. Boycott products that endanger wildlife.

Join the  Bluefin Boycott  and learn more about how the world comes together to tackle wildlife trade .

11. Fight for the right to choose when and if to start a family.

Learn more about  human population growth and overconsumption and sign up to distribute our endangered species condoms .

12. Take action. Use your voice.

Check out our current  action alerts .

Help support our cutting-edge work in the Population and Sustainability Program.

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What is sustainability, 10 facts about single-use plastic bags, population and sustainability homepage, relatd campaigns, simplify the holidays, take extinction off your plate, endangered species condoms, wildlife-friendly wedding guide.

Contact:   Kelley Dennings

The Center for Biological Diversity is a 501(c)(3) registered charitable organization. Tax ID: 27-3943866.

• Our Country Essay

500 Words Essay On Our Country

India, our country is the finest example of ‘unity in diversity. People from different backgrounds and religions live here in peace and harmony. Moreover, our country is known for having a variety of languages. So much so that you will find a different language at every 100 kilometres in our country. Through our country essay, we will take you through what India is.

Unity in Diversity- Our Country Essay

India is a unique country that harbours different kinds of people that speak different languages, eat different foods and wear a variety of clothes. What makes our country special is that despite so many differences, people always live together in peace.

Our country, India, lies in South Asia. It is a large country that is home to approximately 139 crore people. Moreover, India is also the biggest democracy in the whole world. Having one of the oldest civilizations, it is a very rich country.

Our country has fertile soil that makes it the largest wheat producer in the whole world. India has given birth to famous personalities in the field of literature and science. For instance, Rabindranath Tagore, CV Raman, Dr Abdul Kalam, and others are Indians.

It is a country that is home to thousands of villages. Similarly, the fields of India are fed by the mighty rivers. For instance, Ganga, Kaveri, Yamuna, Narmada, and more are rivers of India.

Most importantly, the coasts of our country are guarded by the deep oceans and the mighty Himalayas are our natural frontiers. Being a secular state, India has a variety of religions that prosper happily together.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Famous Things of Our Country Essay

The culture of our country is immensely rich and famous worldwide. The different languages we speak and the different Gods we worship does not create differences between us. We all share the same spirit.

The spirit of India runs throughout the country. Further, India is famous for having a lot of tourist spots. For instance, the Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Gateway of India, Hawa Mahal, Charminar, and more are quite popular.

These attractions bring together people from all over the world. Similarly, we have Kashmir which is known as paradise on earth. The natural beauty of Kashmir, the mighty rivers and gorgeous valleys truly make it a paradise.

Besides that, India is famous for having a very rich food culture. There are so many cuisines found within our country that it is not possible to have it all in one trip. We get to have the best of everything due to the richness.

Conclusion of Our Country Essay

All in all, our country has a thousand-year-old culture. It is also given the world the gifts of yoga and Ayurveda. Besides that, India has contributed significantly to the field of science, music, maths, philosophy, and more. It is an essential country in almost every sphere globally.

FAQ on Our Country Essay

Question 1: What makes our country special and different from other countries?

Answer 1: Our country is special and unique as it is responsible for giving many inventions to the world like the number zero, the game of chess, the value of pi, and more. There are around 90,000 kinds of animals in our country and about 50,000 plant species.

Question 2: How can we improve our country?

Answer 2: We can improve our country by sharing resources so we lower our ecological footprint. Further, it is essential to promote education and empower women. We must work together to reform the system so everyone gets a better life in our country.

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