Here’s a brilliant conference by Hans Rosling on how developing countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. Besides being the most sui generis and amusing talk on economics I’ve ever seen, he presents viscerally the difference an extra $10 per day on income can have in the quality of life.
I was surprised that he didn’t point out that, on his presentation, the listed means for development are almost opposite in importance to the goals, which could indicate why attempting to follow the same path once you’ve reached development leads only to stagnation.
Using his Gapminder tool, checked Costa Rica’s progress on GDP (graph after the text). Even knowing the effects that the Carazo administration had on our country, it was still shocking to see on the chart how far backwards we had ended up in terms of GDP.
Presenters, take notice: that’s how you give a talk on a dry subject.
Perhaps, even more tellingly, is the backwards-going line of our economic growth during those four years (Y axis is population in millions):
And since:
