Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Growth-Compatible Cultures

Tyler Melling, who took ECON 3020 a couple of years ago, forwarded these links.

When he read these articles this spring, they resonated with what he’d discussed in class. Namely, that after we subtract out population growth, capital accumulation, and high tech (as best we can measure it), we’re left with a residual that I call low tech.

Low tech is the little things we take for granted that make a developed economies utilization of capital more efficient than in less-developed countries.

The first article, from the January 25 issue of The New York Times, and entitled “What Drives Success ?”, by Amy Chua and Jed Rubinfeld. She’s the tiger Mom. Anyway, it discusses why some minorities have more economic success, and relates that to low tech.

The second article, from the January 23 issue of Time, is entitled “The ‘Tiger Mom’ Superiority Complex” (this is gated, so get it through our library’s site). It takes a somewhat contrary position.

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