The 18th and 19th centuries were a period of rapid growth and transformation in Europe and the America’s. While under normal circumstances, the rapid expansion of trade and commerce is an unalloyed good, something much more complicated was happening during this period. Europe and America’s insatiable demand for sugar, cotton and other agricultural goods fueled … Continue reading "How slavery transformed Africa"

The Indian education  system has produced the CEOs of Microsoft and Google,  Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry, Physics, Economics and Medicine, and a vast number of other brilliant people. India is the world’s leading provider of IT services, and a fifth of American doctors are born in India because of the excellence and rigor at … Continue reading "Why are Half of all Fifth Graders in Rural India Functionally Illiterate?"

In 1841, what is today Hong Kong was little more than a smattering of fishing villages on barren rocks. Since then, Hong Kong has boomed into one of the greatest centers for trade, manufacturing and finance on the planet. This podcast episode traces the growth of Hong Kong from trading outpost for British drug dealers … Continue reading "Hong Kong, the Best City Drug Money Can Buy?"

Today’s podcast is about powerful sand mafias of India. Sand is a key component of cement, and India’s economic boom is creating massive demand for cement.  The best sand for cement is located at river beds, and hundreds of thousands of people’s livelihoods depend upon digging up sand from riverbeds. However, sand mining, if unregulated … Continue reading "Why Was Narendra Kumar Singh Murdered?"

Today’s podcast episode was going to be an introduction to the economic rise of China. But it’s so vast a story, I have chosen instead to focus on a small element. I’m going to be talking about a fad product, the hoverboard, and what it tells us about the economic environment of China. In particular, … Continue reading "A Brief History of Hoverboards"

This podcast episode is going to look at the government of Zimbabwe’s 2000 decision to expropriate vast amounts of land owned by a small class of white settler farmers. I’m going to look at the colonial legacy of land expropriation from black farmers, the brittle political and economic successes of the 1980’s and the aftermath … Continue reading "Robert Mugabe, Tragic Hero?"

If you are listening to this phone on a smartphone, there is a decent chance you are using a Samsung phone. Even if you  aren’t listening to this episode on a Samsung smartphone, it’s likely that the memory chips for your phone were made by Samsung. Samsung has had a meteoric rise from being a … Continue reading "Samsung…Massive Corruption…Underpants Gnomes…Economic Miracle?"

Welcome to my podcast, the Wealth of Nations. Here is a brief introductory episode. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for listening.