Developing countries: A follow-up

Noah Smith · 14 Jul 2025

Others here said this too

What keeps poor countries poor is political and economic instability, not a shortage of well-designed programmes.

Their wordsThe main lesson from these countries is that political and social instability destroys development, and tends to be very hard to kick.

Also said by Chris Blattman

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6 korrents from this piece ↓

Noah Smith did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Industrialisation is still a live path for poor countries today, despite all the post-pandemic pessimism.

Their wordsThese countries should leave us hopeful that industrialization is still possible in this day and age, although it’s hard.
Our reading
Whether India gets rich will decide much of the course of human flourishing this century.

Their wordsWhether India can get rich will determine much of the course of human flourishing over the next century.
Our reading
Export success is not enough: a country that wants to manufacture has to build whole domestic ecosystems of interrelated industries.

Their wordsIf countries want to be great manufacturers, they can’t just find a few industries they’re good at; they need to work on developing whole domestic ecosystems of interrelated industries.
Our reading
Exporting natural resources can lift a country out of poverty and cannot make it rich.

Their wordsBeing a natural resource exporter has saved Indonesia from poverty, but it won’t be enough to get rich.
Our reading
What keeps poor countries poor is political and economic instability, not a shortage of well-designed programmes.

Their wordsThe main lesson from these countries is that political and social instability destroys development, and tends to be very hard to kick.
Our reading
A country can still catch up all the way to developed-country income without producing a world-beating national champion manufacturer.

Their wordsThis is extremely encouraging, as it shows that countries can still catch up all the way to developed status even without world-beating national champion manufacturers like Samsung and Hyundai.

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