Geography is not a first - order influence on prosperity

28 T remendous differences in incomes and standards of living exist today between the rich and the poor countries of the world. Average per capita income in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, is less than one twentieth that in the United States. Explanations for why the economic fortunes of countries have diverged so much abound. Poor countries, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, Central America or South Asia, often lack functioning markets, their populations are poorly educated and their machinery and technology are outdated or nonexistent. These are, however, only proximate causes of poverty, begging the question of why these places do not have better markets, better human capital, more investments, better machinery and better technology. There must be some fundamental causes leading to these outcomes and, via these channels, to dire poverty.