Local opinion: What is prosperity?

An exploration of prosperity is particularly relevant in light of geopolitical, economic, and monetary changes all over the world.

What is prosperity?

Prosperity is a state of economic, social, mental, physical, environmental and political well-being. Prosperity is more than riches and money.

Good intentions and rhetoric are not enough. Without a strategic model, ideology, and direction, random tactical moves driven by populism are ineffective and wasteful.

The how: The tools for prosperity are the organizations and the institutions dedicated to the task. One-man teams and loose federations are less effective.

The who: It is the organized committed minority that brings prosperity. They create inclusive and benevolent organizations and institutions.

A statesman is the public face of the transition and manages it.

The when: We get prosperity when the organized committed minority acts at critical political crossroads of history. Timing is critical. This is the “rendezvous of peace” when there is opportunity for change as old systems collapse and new systems are being put in place.

The 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics research and book “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty” by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson explores this in detail.

What brings prosperity:

• Non-coercion: not using force or threat for governance. All exchange of goods and services is voluntary.
• Small government: Government should only get involved with managing what cannot be delivered by the private sector: foreign policy and defense; and the justice system with laws, courts and police. The objective is not ‘no governance’, free-for-all, or anarchy, but minimal non-intrusive governance.
• Open Data: Open Data means access to anonymized public data. Instead of depending on politicians and bureaucrats for solutions, open access to data will allow the free market to get to the root cause of problems and develop solutions.
• Needham Question: named after British biochemist who asked why some cultures and regions stay undeveloped even though they invented transformative technologies. It is due to:
• High-level equilibrium trap: People became satisfied very quickly with what they had.
• Arbitrary laws and totalitarian control
• Omnipotent bureaucracy
• Fossilized institutions
• Downward tyranny
• Restricting foreign trade
• Immigration: is a prosperity multiplier. It is good for prosperity of people and the nation. In the book “The Truth About Immigration,” Wharton professor Zeke Hernandez shows that:
• Immigrants bring economic and other benefits to native people and the nation even when immigrants are slow to integrate.
• There are undeniable economic benefits, increase in jobs, and National Security benefits from Immigration.
• Grievances due to crowding and congestion are due to government not using the extra taxes for infrastructure building but diverting them.
• “Strong, asymmetric negative sentiment isn’t the result of some organic, natural process at the grassroots level. It’s a highly orchestrated movement, led by a tiny band of strongly opinionated and fabulously well-funded individuals.”
• Aim High: aim for the seemingly impossible to get out of the middle-income trap. These are the moonshots of our generation.
• Aim High: Take part in 3rd, 4th, and 5th industrial revolutions.

Secondary and peripheral factors: Culture, race, ethnicity, religion, IQ, region, weather, geography, ignorance (lack of knowledge), and natural resources affect prosperity, but not to the same extent as establishing organizations and institutions at critical crossroads in history.

Prosperity comes from getting the simple things right by a small committed organized minority. No special IQ, culture, religion, geography, weather required.

Poisoned Well: Overpopulation, worsening climate crisis, obesity and food without nutrition, racism and xenophobia, welfare state and institutional lying poison the well and make it near-impossible to prosper.

Universal Science: The path to prosperity is the same across all cultures, religions, regions, and nations.

Wanjiru Njoya sees “Economics as a Universal Science.”

Progress over Perfection: Very few models or paradigms or narratives explain every behavior. They simplify reality to make it easier for us to understand. There are nuances, hidden aspects, long-tail scenarios, and exceptions in many scenarios.

It is hoped that this article encourages the reader to see beyond the rhetoric and populism that accompany the once-in-a-generation political, monetary, and geopolitical changes.