External validity refers to how the “inferences drawn from a given study’s sampleapply to a broader population or other target populations”

The GRD includes all countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and thecombined Middle East and North Africa region, as well as additional set ofnon-random Asian and European countries. We thus estimate separate models foreach region as well as a pooled model combining all countries across all regions.

The GRD documents the spatial location (i.e., latitudeand longitude) and values of individual natural resource extraction sites and pro-duction facilities from 1994 to 2015. Each row in the dataset provides informationfor a single production location of a resource in a single year—i.e., a location-year.For each site or facility, the dataset records the resource, location, output,country-specific and global prices, as well as many other attributes.

Notably, across all of our models, we find that resources are negatively associatedwith conflict in Latin America, suggesting heterogeneity of effects worth futureexploration.

We find that sub-national resource wealth is associatedwith higher levels of conflict using some specifications, though the results vary widelyby data source and world region. Using an instrumental variables strategy lends thestrongest support to this positive relationship, but only for African countries.

Future research could examine whether climate changecould act as a threat multiplier also for interstate conflict in the Arctic.

How is climate change linked to conflict? There exist two potential pathways. The first one viewsclimate as affecting the likelihood of conflict via direct physiological and/or psychological factorsand resource scarcity. The second postulates that climate indirectly leads to conflict by reducingeconomic output and agricultural incomes, raising food prices, and increasing migration flows.Whether climate directly or indirectly affects conflict, however, depends on socioeconomic andpolitical factors that condition (intensify or weaken) the effect.

This survey question is considered an alternative measure of climate change acceptance;those who said storms were staying the same or getting less severe were considered to be climate changeskeptics.

Although this is a single case,

In the United States,Republicans, in particular, have expressed skepticism about thethreat posed by climate change. Is this skepticism reduced bydirect experience with severe weather events?

Severe weather events have the potential to mod-erate climate change skepticism in the United States but notamong the most engaged, dedicated partisans.

However, among highly educated and motivated Republicanvoters, experience with Hurricane Florence was associated withincreased skepticism about climate change.

A further claim within the literature is that poverty is the principal underlying causeof civil war. Whilst this is highly plausible, our contention here is that scholars have yet toadequately demonstrate that this is indeed the case, largely because they have failed to satis-factorily tease out the directionality within the poverty and conflict relationship.

checks on executive power create a sit-uation where rebels need not maintain militias and the threat of violence to holdpolitical elites in line.

strong political and legal institutionshelp incumbent elites credibly commit to the political terms of a peace settlement,making lasting bargains more likely.

they create multiplenonviolent avenues to influence government policy, making renewed violence lessessential as a means to promote change.

these features serve as a check on executive power cre-ating governments that are more likely to serve the interests of a wider population.

the word “tribe,”

In the inter-ests of global peace, security, and progress, our own generation should, at least,revisit these issues seriously and apply corrective measures. It is, indeed, imper-ative that the BRIC countries should also not forget their own past relationswith the western colonial powers regarding what is seen by many as their pred-atory exploits in the Global South.

neocolonialism is inevitable, giventhe structure of colonial institutions that were intended to foster dependency,a reality that undermines the sovereignty of the states concerned ab initio; thatneocolonialism is resilient because of its ability to change its tactics to achieveits ends; that neocolonialism cannot operate effectively without the coopera-tion of the indigenous leaders; and that its proponents and opponents aliketend to adopt extreme positions.

many would agree with Watson: “I argue . . . thatevidence of development as a form of neocolonialism may be etched rightinto the ‘colonial bodies’ of many of today’s aid workers.”

Some, even today,are still struggling to master it, the claim of some of them to be true democra-cies notwithstanding.

Colin Leys believed in the 1970s that neocolonialism was “temporary and tran-sitional.”11 He was wrong.

he issue of racialism that he introduced is strange since it wasnot then the main concern of the advocates of neocolonialism

“neocolonialism is also the worst form of imperialism” because“those who practice it” exercise “power without responsibility and for those whosuffer from it, it means exploitation without redress.

“By neocolonialism we mean the practice of granting a sort of inde-pendence with the concealed intention of making the liberated country a client-state, and controlling it effectively by means other than political ones.”

neocolonialism (including its practical operation), far from being dead, is aliveand well and that if politicians sweep the subject under the carpet, dire conse-quences may follow

The best way of learning to be anindependent sovereign state is to be an independent sovereign state’

extraversion

The true value of the CFA franc is noteconomic. It is political.

The compensations of monetary unions such as found in the CFA zone are significantonly when intraregional trade is relatively large. This is not the case in either CFA zones.

, monetary integrationnecessitates both the harmonisation of inflation rates and the real cost increases withinmembers’ states

monetary policy is centralisedand state-level monetary policy is not possible

currency unions remove the possibility of member states util-ising exchange rate adjustments as a policy mechanism within the zone

CEMAC has the lowestproportion of intra-regional trade in Africa, at just 2.1% in 2014, while UEMOA’s intra-regionaltrade has stagnated.

exchange rate risks accompanying future capital flows in foreign currencies isavoided

reduction in transaction costs, in that the expenses involved in exchanging currencies areaverted as a unitary currency is employed for all intraregional commerce

Yet within this system is an in-built rationale within CFA to ensure theunderdevelopment of the African economies, lest their economic size become too unwieldyfor France to oversee

the growth rate of industrial exports in the CFA zones is below that ofother African countries

overvaluation

capital flight

CEMAC

Inexchange for convertibility, the foreign exchange reserves of the CFA members are consol-idated.

This devaluation was unilaterally announced by Paris with no consultationwhatsoever with African leaders.

the two CFA currencies were (andcontinue to be) set at an unreasonably high level, which limited the price competitiveness ofexports onto global world markets (except when these exports went to the French market)

hus new currencies were established in French ter-ritories overseas to both protect them from the devaluation and, crucially, to facilitate exportsto France to help Paris rebuild the country after the war,32 with Paris using the institutionalarrangements to maintain their ‘right’ to African natural resources.

CFA is the common name for the twocurrencies circulating in the 14 member countries of the zone, which is made up two eco-nomic communities.

a monetary pillar through the Communautés Financières d’Af-rique Franc (CFA), made up of two CFA currencies

the presence of French troops stationed in various military bases acrossthe continent, as well as numerous French military advisers attached to African armies insenior advisory roles

a network of French expertspresent at the state level of African countries, in financial, institutional and educationalstructures.

The result of such arrangements in much of Francophone Africa has been continuedunderdevelopment, understood here as the increasing loss by a society over control of itsown future; the emergence of structures of external dependency in the economy; net trans-fers of resources and national wealth to foreigners; a growing gap between the dominatedand dominant nations vis-à-vis technology, life chances and living standards and the con-solidation of a domestic social structure whereby local elites benefit while the majority donot

, most of Francophone Africa continues to beembedded in a set of associations that fit well with Kwame Nkrumah’s description of neo-colonialism, whereby ‘the State which is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has allthe outward trappings of international sovereignty.

Karmon (2013) has researched and writes how Iran spawned Hezbollah andhow it remains its chief financial and ideological sponsor across the globe. Hedetails how its regime is inseparable from Hezbollah. Not one African countrylists Hezbollah as a terrorist entity. This, he explains, is because African countriesthat continue to welcome Hezbollah or Iran owe them their survival because ofmilitary support. Hezbollah, therefore, could and does use West Africa as alaunching pad for its narcotics trade into Europe, and this has consequences on theEU process to clamp down on terrorism.

Gaining popular support within the Muslim communities of Africa, and byexpanding Africa’s Shiite communities would in Iran’s view influence favourablythe policies of African governments toward Iran, provide Iran with a source offinancial and manpower support and a network and routes for logistical, financialand human support to groups they organise and support in the Middle East

in neo-colonialism, themaintenance and expansion of established social institutions, including religiousmeans, direct colonial rule is not necessary because the economic and socialsituations, including religious relations of dependency and control ensure bothcaptive labour as well as markets for European industry as well as goods

Asymmetrically Tunisia’s exports to Tunisiain 2017 were $144 billion yet imports were $820 billion

Asymmetrically Egypt’s exports to Turkey in 2017 were $1.998 billion, yetimports were $2.733 billion

Fanon saw the exploitative tendencies of Western countries as inherent to theircapitalist nature but blamed the African petty bourgeoisie, which had receivedpolitical power from the exiting colonial government, as the primary cause ofneo-colonialism in Africa.

designed to keep African countries within the capitalist camp

iron curtain

It did not happen because the formercolonies were still economically dependent upon their former colonial masters, whoprevented them from developing.

other countries (the dependent) can only develop asa reflection of this expansion

underdevelopment

The profit realized was ploughed into their ownEuropean economy and society to transform the European continent into themanufacturing centre of the world

European states legitimized each other’s colonial endeavours, at the Berlinconference 13 November 1884–26 February 1885, without African participationor representation.

Iran and Turkey have not occupied African territories and raised their flags, sothey are not neo-imperialist, but they have compromised the governance ofAfrican states.

Their activities areasymmetrical. Iran and Turkey take more than they give to suit their own interests.

It is the intent of thisarticle to show that Africa is suffering from neo-colonialism for the same reasonsthat it suffered from colonialism.

g-d, glory, gold and globalization

freedom to decide how to spend resources is essential for effectivepro-poor decentralisation

All of the negative performers are characterised by extremely limitedfinancial resources, that is to say, limited (or tied) transfers and limited or no localtax-raising powers.

thesetend to increase regional inequalities from an economic and social point of view

decentralisation should be accompanied by complementarymeasures such as investment in education or the promotion of land reform

Common to negative performers is theconsiderable lack of pre-existing local human capacity and very little support fromthe central state in favour of training during reform.

In negatively performingcountries, decentralisation is often seen as part of a patrimonial agenda aimed atpreserving the monopoly of power and ensuring control over resources.

there is noexample of the non-occurrence of elite capture or corruption across all nine casestudies.

citizens’ opportunities toparticipate remain insufficient

Allpositive and rather positive performers believed in the benefits of decentrali-sation and were committed to delegating powers and responsibilities.

all negative performers are least developed countries(LLDCs) while most of the positive performers are middle-income countrie

The comparison of these nine case studies suggests that there is a link betweendecentralisation and poverty; nonetheless this is quite complex.

In some cases thedecentralisation process has changed considerably since the publication of thesearticles potentially leading to quite different poverty outcomes. Second, it ispossible that not all of the peer-reviewed articles available have been found so thereported evidence might not give the full picture. Third, the use of differentmethodologies/conceptual and analytical frameworks by the selected authorspartially limits cross-country comparisons

The countries selected are thus countries where decentralisationhas taken place and for which evidence on the impact of the reform on povertyhas been collected.

there are opportunities for an increase intransparency and thus for a reduction in corruption and an overall improvement inlocal governance

The relationship between decentralisation and poverty is quite complex anddepends on the specific definition of both terms.

These legal entities have a wideautonomy in decision making.

deepening the democratic nature of the country’sinstitutions

First, in an environment where the central statebarely fulfils basic functions and is not interested in giving power andresources to local tiers of government, decentralisation should not be apriority for donors as it could be rather counter-productive. Second, incountries that fulfil basic prerequisites, decentralisation could be apowerful tool for poverty reduction.

We have the potential to be less ethnocentric than we are.

It would be naïve to consider our contemporary world as free from ethnocentrism.

majorityethnic groups in high-income nations might be seen as superior to majority ethnic groups inlow-income nations

Western Europeans where more racist and powerful thanbefore, when, at the end of the nineteenth century, they also embarked on the politicalinvasion of the sub-continent

ontemporary differences in GDP per capita levels werereached through an ethnically excluding technology-driven economic development

why ithappened to be western Europeans

the correlation between GDP levels and ethnicity at the internationalmacro level exist primarily because it happened to be lighter ethnic groups of western Europethat were the colonisers, while it happened to be darker ethnic groups of Sub-Saharan Africathat where the enslaved ones

the systematic direction is that thelighter a country, the higher the probability of that country having a higher economic level.

Duringoppression times, people where hindered in developing their societies, and were instead keptbusy in the colonial apparatus, and/or where involved in emancipation struggles.

many ethnic groups where forcefully divided and then compelled to sustain life in a made-upnation under foreign rule that also included many other ethnic groups who in turn had differentcultures and languages

It is not a coincidence that industrial creativity emerged in Britain and spread to other westernEuropean nations first. Higher economic levels are interlinked with higher technical and socialdevelopment

Before that time economiclevels between various regions of the world where practically equal, particularly over longertime period

These perceptions in particularmust have laid the foundations for the orderly colour-coded racism in Western Europe andtheir settlement nations.

this means European colonizers are not particularly vicious or intelligent, sinceevery set of ethnic groups have been involved in colonial endeavour. In parallel, colonisedpeople are not particularly kind or less intelligent, since every set of ethnic groups has beensubject to colonial rule.

What makes us biologically equal, but economically unequal?

Note also that while Group 1 consists of eight percent of world population, they have24 percent of total world current GDP - three times their populace fraction.

6,552

since the comparative GDP per capita levels follow the samepattern for recent decades, there is no reason to extend the time period.

Instead we are interested in capturing the direction ofeconomic inequalities and understanding the approximate magnitude of these inequalities atthe global macro level.

Now the claim is that there is a significant worldwide correlation betweennuances of human morphological traits and economic levels.

Thecentral argument is that natural endowments are economic rents, which can lead to rampantrent-seeking activities when abundance prevails.

But the argument isbased on a static view of culture. Historically, culture must be one of the most dynamicaspects in human societies.

One line of argument emphasizes different cultural mentalities as explanation ofdifferent cultural, political, economical, and societal outcomes

some of the most obvious explanatory variables of low levels of GDPper capita for a country are low levels of investment, technology and education. Thesecharacteristics are, in turn, explained by other features such as corrupt leadership, civil wars,poor infrastructures, and poor health care facilities.

The expectation is that ethnic polarizations at national levels also have significanceat the global macro level. The hypothesis is that there is a systematic correlation between theethnicity a country represents and sustained economic levels

we do notknow how to put in place the formal rules of the game accompaniedby the informal rules and enforcement characteristics that arenecessary for success.

We will see whether in fact he succeeds.

without an under-standing of the very difficult problem of implementing and creating aset of new institutions that will complement the historical traditions ofVenezuela, put in place productive activity, and use oil as a fulcrumby which one can start to make the economy work again, he is boundto fail.

Sub-Saharan Africa,which is a "basket case" everywhere, is going to continue to be a"basket case" until we can create political systems that somehow orother can put into place something that will work.

We do not know howto create such a polity. We do not even know how we did itourselves.

learn enough about the cultureof a society so that you understand the way it operates, and then tolook for windows of opportunity to alter the way the game is played,so that you can introduce, consistent with the culture and beliefs, newrules and norms

one of the reasons that economists have not looked sobrilliant in the last ten years is that they had a set of very simpledefinitions of what made for productivity and attempted to imposethem on various countries

the beliefsand the way they have evolved can translate into a set of institutions,and rules of the game, that lead people to more productive andcreative results.

itpays to lie, cheat, and steal

In a society that has evolved successfully, let us saythe Netherlands, we see an initial set of beliefs which were receptiveto new ideas and to new problems, and experiences that forced new,creative solutions.

Avner Greif tells this story in his study of the way medievalGenoese and Magribe traders developed different ways of structuringexchange.

We say that redistributive norms evolved in Africa because theland-to-man ratio was so vast and because the climate and habitatwere so uncertain that people could not figure out what would workand what would not work.

how did beliefs evolve

Instead, societies have stagnated; people have gotten poorer, notbetter off; chaos and confusion and war have led to losers over andover again throughout history.

Why did such a belief system evolve? The closest we yethave to an answer is that there is such an enormous contrast betweenperformance characteristics of people in different settings that theacquisition of assets cannot be traced directly to deliberate effort.

the interaction between formal rules, informal norms, and theenforcement characteristics of both

You can change formalrules-and I will come back to this at some length-by getting thepolitical system to enact a new law. But how do you change norms ofbehavior, or codes of conduct?

Third World countries

this is one of the reasons why I continue to be such a critic ofeconomics: if we all know what the causes of economic growth areand yet cannot produce it, something very fundamental is missing.

It comes from putting those together andputting them to work.

The gap between thosecountries and others widened and is still widening today. In fact,living standards in sub-Saharan Africa have been falling for most ofthe last twenty-five years, and so the disparities not only are immensebut are getting worse.

weeconomists measure the well-being of people in different countries,you find we usually talk about per capita income: we take the incomeof a country and we divide it by the population and come up with anumber. This is not the best way to measure well-being, but it givesyou some notion of the enormous disparities.

California could evencontinue to use gas power if the CO2 emissions were captured and sequestered underground.Alternatively, gas power plants could be converted to burn clean fuels, such as hydrogen, whichmight be made via electrolysis with solar power, reformed from natural gas while leaving wasteCO2 to be sequestered underground, or produced from gasification of agricultural and forestryresidues or crops. All of these clean firm power sources (and perhaps others) would providecritical reliability that could prevent a Texas-sized tragedy.

To ensure grid reliability, Californianeeds to replace today’s carbon-emitting gas-fired power plants, which supply over 40% of thestate’s electricity, with some alternative source of clean electricity that is available on demand,for as long as it is needed, whenever it is needed. This type of electricity resource is known as“clean firm power.”

Today, California relies on natural gas power plants(and heating) during these periods. If a net-zero carbon economy cannot continue to depend onnatural gas to meet this demand, what will the state use instead?

Thousands of babies died because of a sweeping generalization, includingsome during the months when the evidence was already available. Sweepinggeneralizations can easily hide behind good intentions.

How canthis be such a smart solution?

If you are happy to conclude that allchemicals are unsafe on the basis of one unsafe chemical, would you beprepared to conclude that all chemicals are safe on the basis of one safechemical?

When someone says that a majority of a group has some property it can soundlike most of them have something in common. Remember that majority justmeans more than half. It could mean 51 percent. It could mean 99 percent. Ifpossible, ask for the percentage.

Are there examplesof different behavior in the same group? Or of the same behavior in othergroups?

It will be helpful to you if you always assume your categories are misleading.Here are five powerful ways to keep questioning your favorite categories:look for differences within and similarities across groups; beware of “themajority”; beware of exceptional examples; assume you are not “normal”;and beware of generalizing from one group to another.

I remember this whole experience as the first time in my life that I suddenly had to change myworldview: my assumption that I was superior because of where I came from, the idea that theWest was the best and the rest would never catch up. At that moment, 45 years ago, I understoodthat the West would not dominate the world for much longer.

So your country hasbecome so safe that when you go abroad the world is dangerous for you.”

The challenge is to realize which of our simplecategories are misleading—like “developed” and “developing” countries—and replace them with better categories, like the four levels.

These women don’t wear Lycra and won’tspend money on ultrathin pads. They demand a low-cost pad that will bereliable throughout the day so they don’t have to change it when they are outat work. And when they find a product they like, they will probably stick tothat brand for their whole lives and recommend it to their daughters.

The fact that 88 percent are vaccinated but major financial investorsbelieve it is only 20 percent indicates that there is a big chance they are failingat their jobs by missing out on huge investment opportunities (probably themost profitable ones in the fastest-growing parts of the world).

The gap instinct divides the world into “us” and “them,” and thegeneralization instinct makes “us” think of “them” as all the same.

When many people become aware of a problematic generalization it iscalled a stereotype

Misleading generalizationsand stereotypes act as a kind of shorthand for the media, providing quick andeasy ways to communicate

Everyone automatically categorizes and generalizes all the time.Unconsciousl

It’sactually one of the most blatant lies I have ever told, but it worked. Thevillagers were happy to share my dessert between them. Everyone,everywhere knows that people from different tribes have different customs.

If you could keep track of each separate place though, youwould be surprised how peaceful most of them were.

Whether measuring HIV, GDP, mobile phone sales, internet users,or CO emissions, a per capita measurement—i.e., a rate per person—willalmost always be more meaningful.

A lonely number always makes mesuspicious that I will misinterpret it. A number that I have compared anddivided can instead fill me with hope.

Divide the Numbers

Many of us forget to behave properly with thosewho will control the future trade deals.

By 2040,60 percent of Level 4 consumers will live outside the West. Yes, I think theWestern domination of the world economy will soon be over.

More than 80 percent of the world’spopulation will live in Africa and Asia.

In each case I simply looked for the biggest singleitems taking up 80 percent of the budget, then dug down into any that seemedunusual. In each case the problem was due to a simple confusion or tiny errorsuch as a missing decimal point.

For example, here’s a list of the world’s energy sources, in alphabeticalorder: biofuels, coal, gas, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, oil, solar, wind.Presented like that, they all seem equally important. If we instead sort themaccording to how many units of energy they generate for humanity, threeoutnumber all the rest, as this graph shows.

Whenever I have to compare lots of numbers and work outwhich are the most important, I use the simplest-ever thinking tool. I look forthe largest numbers.

The news coverage for TB was at a rate of 0.1article per death. Each swine flu death received 82,000 times more attentionthan each equally tragic death from TB.

In Sweden, a fatal bear attack is a once-in-a-century event. Meanwhile, awoman is killed by her partner every 30 days. This is a 1,300-fold differencein magnitude. And yet one more domestic murder had barely registered, whilethe hunting death was big news.

The wars with China had lasted, on and off, for 2,000 years. The Frenchoccupation had lasted 200 years. The “Resistance War Against America” tookonly 20 years. The sizes of the monuments put things in perfect proportion. Itwas only by comparing them that I could understand the relativeinsignificance of “the Vietnam War” to the people who now live in Vietnam.

And how can anyone argue that 4.2 million is anything other than a hugenumber? You might think that nobody would even try to argue that, but youwould be wrong. That is exactly why I mentioned this number. Because it isnot huge: it is beautifully small.

So if you are investing money toimprove health on Level 1 or 2, you should put it into primary schools, nurseeducation, and vaccinations. Big impressive-looking hospitals can wait.

You tend to get things out of proportion. I do not mean to sound rude. Gettingthings out of proportion, or misjudging the size of things, is something thatwe humans do naturally. It is instinctive to look at a lonely number andmisjudge its importance. It is also instinctive—like in the hospital in Nacala—to misjudge the importance of a single instance or an identifiable victim.

The world cannot be understood without numbers. And it cannot beunderstood with numbers alone.

“In the deepest poverty you should never do anythingperfectly. If you do you are stealing resources from where they can be betterused.”

Itwould, I believed, be truly unethical to spend more resources in the hospitalbefore the majority of the population—and the 98.7 percent of dying childrenwho never reached the hospital—had some form of basic health care.

“It is unethical to spend all my time and resources trying tosave those who come here. I can save more children if I improve the servicesoutside the hospital. I am responsible for all the child deaths in this district:the deaths I do not see just as much as the deaths in front of my eyes.”

I admitted the child, inserted a feeding tube, andordered that oral rehydration solution should be given through the tube. Mypediatrician friend dragged me into the corridor by the arm. He was veryupset and angrily challenged the substandard treatment I had prescribed,accusing me of skimping in order to get home for dinner. He wanted me togive the baby an intravenous drip.

The Deaths I Do Not See

J.H. de Soto defines socialism “as system of institu-tional aggression on the free exercise of human action or entrepreneurship”43

he more competitive economic system is capitalism,which proves its superiority over socialism

The study of competitiveness of economic systems is not an easy task,especially because of the problem of choosing a measure instrument of thisphenomenon

These circum-stances gave the rise to the fact that in the countries of the capitalist systemsocial welfare was built faster than in the socialist countries

the guardian of democracy

According to A. Maddison, Geary-Khamis dollars are the best measure of volume com-parisons of GDP per capita, in long serial circles time, as well as between countrie

There is neither a single definition of com-petitiveness nor any measure of this economic category.

thisis an unstable economic system generating a growing number of public pro-tests. Despite this it functioned in many countries almost till the end of thetwentieth century, or it still functions there.

However, as economic history shows, the socialist economic system beganto be built in the country completely unprepared for Marxist concept of thesociety mature for socialism

According to Marks, socialism could come when capitalism has freed soci-ety from poverty 16.

Utopia should be understood here as the project of an ideal political systemwhich is to operate on principles of justice, solidarity and equality. Such as-sumptions were typical of the Marxist doctrine.

the economic affairs of society be-long to the public and not the private sphere”

This is the economicpolicy formed on the basis of the criticism of the capitalist system, in whichthe social (and not private) ownership of production means is the econom-ic basis of eliminating class division and exploitation

he history of capitalism shows that this economic system started to formin the second half of the fifteenth century, mainly due to the great geo-graphical discoveries 12 .

the most impor-tant role is played by capitalism (a form of individual and market system

it should be assumed that the level of competitivenessof the investigated objects depends on many factors

In thehistory so far the economy has acted in five of its forms, namely: in a primalcommunity, slavery, feudalism, capitalism and socialism

The author assumed thatcompetitiveness is the ability of the surveyed economies to build prosperity