Why Are Some Countries Rich While Others Poor - 1502 Words

Supervisor: Samuel Bonnyai Literature review Economists have been concerned about an important question for centuries: why are some countries rich while others poor. This is a question about economic growth. Take Korea for example. Korea had been divided into North and South Korea since 1948. These two countries share nearly the same geography, history and culture. However, the GDP per capita in the South Korea is only 3.22% of the South Korea. Another phenomenon is that the rapid growth had been observed in East Asian in recent years. This is another key economic issue: whether the growth rate of poor economics are higher than developed ones and which kind of factors lead to the convergence over time? (Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1990). In most cases, the economic growth is defined as the amount of output (GDP or GDP per capita) that increases in an economy over time while the convergence refers to the poor economies coming up with the developed ones (Quah, 1996). As an important and popular issue in the field of economic researc h, it attracts many economists and there are many models to explain economic growth. In 1776, Adam Smith pointed out that the growth of a country is mainly due to labor, capital accumulation and technology progress. Ricardo comes up with the law of diminishing returns in 1817 and states that the diminishing marginal returns will be the reason to stop the economic growth of a country eventually. In the history of the development of economic growthShow MoreRelatedPoverty in Third World Countries1654 Words   |  7 PagesHelping poor people is ethical behavior and everyone should do it in order to continue our lives. Every year, there are millions of people at risk of going hungry. There are ways people can end poverty all around the world. People can eliminate poverty if we work together to fight it and avoid selfishness. Rich countries often give financial aid to poor countries, but it does not solve poverty. 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While many believe he was a thief and a villain to the law, others fee l he was a hero to the poor. Some people might say that Robin Hood stole from the government, and stealing is a crime, no matter what your cause is. They might also say that if people in this day and time stole from the rich and gave the money to the poor, they would be arrested because stealing is against the law. Finally, people who think Robin Hood was wrong in what he did might say that he betrayed his country. It is