West-East Divide In Wealth Of Nations: Can The Wealth Gap Be Bridged?

By Terry Nettle

Why are some nations so rich and some nations so poor?

Is it all a matter of luck? Or the quality of leadership? Or the political systems? Or the work ethics of the people?

Is it the natural distribution of wealth and resources? Is it something that should be taken for granted and not to be changed? Is humankind destined to live under such great discrepancies and such inequality? What can we do to redress this?

Why should rich nations stay rich, and poor nations stay poor? Is there a conspiracy to maintain the status quo? Why is there the resistance to changing the status quo?

Must rich nations stay rich and poor nations stay poor? What can we do to change the status quo, and move towards a more equal distribution of wealth?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terry Nettle
• Release date: Jan 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215614501

Book preview

1. Rich West, Poor East

It is a fact that the West is rich and the East is poor.

Based on the 2021 statistics for US$GDP per capita on purchasing power parity, the few richest nations sit at the top at around 100,000, most of the West at about 50,000, most of the East at around 10,000, while the poorest African countries at around 1,000.

This is the horrendous contrast between the rich and poor nations of the world!

But how did this come about?

2. Rich West

The rich West evolved in Europe through revolutionary changes in science and technology during the middle of the second millennium. The advent of Renaissance enabled the European powers to expand their knowledge base and develop their formidable economic, political and military prowess. This was then enhanced by the very important Industrial Revolution that began in England. What followed was the dramatic expansion of the political, economic, and technological powers and the military powers of Europe.

WW2 caused great disruptions to the whole world in the period 1945-48. But economic recovery after that was spurred by massive reconstruction programmes, international investment and booming trade.

By 1965, GDP around the world had rebounded significantly. In terms of GDP per capita in US dollar, USA led the world at about 4,000, Europe at about 1,500, while most of Asia and