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The Six Killer Apps of Prosperity. An introduction to Niall Ferguson’s lecture. The Great Divergence. The separation in wealth/innovation/etc. between the developing world (Asia, South America & Africa) and the West (Europe, North America & Australia).
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The Six Killer Apps of Prosperity An introduction to Niall Ferguson’s lecture
The Great Divergence • The separation in wealth/innovation/etc. between the developing world (Asia, South America & Africa) and the West (Europe, North America& Australia). • Ferguson wants to understand how this divergence occurred, what caused the divergence, and the future of the world economy now that the gap is closing.
Background to Ferguson’s Historical References • Mughal Empire (1526-1857)
Background to Ferguson’s Historical References • Ottoman Empire (1299–1923)
Background to Ferguson’s Historical References • Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) • First to write the Oxford Dictionary • Documented behaviors and tics led historians to diagnose him with Tourette’s Syndrome posthumously • Famous British philosopher and author
Background to Ferguson’s Historical References • Ibrahim Muteferrika • Originally from Transylvania, a convert to Islam • An Ottoman diplomat, publisher, courtier, economist, geographer, man of letters, astronomer, historian scholar and theologian. • First Muslim to run a printing press with moveable Arabic type
“It’s not geography” • East Germany/ West Germany • Communism/ Capitalism • Trabant vs. Mercedes Benz • North Korea/ South Korea • Communism/ Capitalism
What has created the divergence? • Ferguson says it is a society’s ideas and institutions, not geography, that creates the Great Divergence. • Adam Smith, not Sean Connery • 1776, publishes Wealth of Nations
Competition • Europe • Political units • China • Uniformity • Imperial civil service examinations
Scientific Revolution • Europe • Experimental method • “…gave man control over nature.” • The Orient and Arab world • Theocracy
John Locke and property rights • Influential thinker of the Enlightenment • Social contract theory • The relation of natural and legal rights • Theory of value and property • “Argues that the individual ownership of goods and property is justified by the labor exerted to produce those goods or utilize property to produce goods beneficial to human society.” • Ferguson’s example of indentured servitude • Importance of property ownership.
Modern Medicine • Modern Medicine • Breakthroughs in curing infectious diseases • Sorcery
The consumer society • The Consumer Society • The foundation of industrial society • “You want people to buy a lot of clothes.” • “Propels economic growth, even more than technological innovations.” • Bare Necessities • Mahatma Ghandi • Leader in India’s nationalist movement 1915-1947 • Swaraj: self-rule • Sarvodaya: end poverty through improvements in cottage industry
The Work ethic • The Work Ethic • Max Weber • The “Protestant Work Ethic” • Leisure Preference • Now the preference of the West?
The killer Apps can be downloaded • The Great Re-convergence • Is the West deleting its own apps? • Does the sequencing of the “download” matter? • Do these killer apps need to occur in a particular order? • Africa- Libya • Can China do without having property rights?