David Landes's
book The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor has some interesting ideas.
Landes argues that a
nation's
culture and societal structure are strong factors that determine how well it does economically. For example,
European society encouraged technological and organizational
innovations. Those innovations, fostered by a concept of
progress, let
Europe surpass and eventually dominate the rest of world.
Within Europe,
Spain ended up falling behind despite the
wealth it received from overseas. Spanish society (remember the
Inquisition) discouraged new ideas and drove off valuable people who didn't agree with the
religious orthodoxy. Landes points out the similarities between colonial Spain and the present-day
OPEC nations, none of whom can convert valuable
resources into a long-term
industrial infrastructure.
Wealth and Poverty of Nations goes into a lot more detail, of course. Even though it downplays some issues, such as
colonialism and
economic inequities within countries, it provides some worthwhile insights.