Why Some Countries Are Poor and Others Rich • 2014 The School of Life

Category: Economics | Download:

The reason why some countries are rich and others poor depends on many things, including the quality of their institutions, the culture they have, the natural resources they find and what latitude they're on.

Make a donation

Buy a brother a hot coffee? Or a cold beer?

Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.

Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?

Donation addresses

buymeacoffee.com

patreon.com

BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v

ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116

With your donation through, you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.

The School of Life • 2014 - 2016 • 12 episodes •

How to Make a Country Rich

If you were setting out to make a country rich, what kind of mindsets and ideas would be most likely to achieve your goals? We invent a country, Richland, and try to imagine the psychology of its inhabitants.

2015 • Economics

Why Some Countries Are Poor and Others Rich

The reason why some countries are rich and others poor depends on many things, including the quality of their institutions, the culture they have, the natural resources they find and what latitude they're on.

2014 • Economics

How to Get Divorced

The rules for how to doom a relationship are relatively easy to follow. Here are a selection that are guaranteed to blow up love.

2015 • Lifehack

Suicide

Suicide is a very rare phenomenon at the far end of human anguish. And yet its existence tells us something crucial about how fragile we all are: it's a further reminder of the need for compassion.

2015 • Brain

Why Religious Beliefs Aren't Just Silly

Nowadays, many atheists declare not just that god is dead but that anyone who believes in him must be stupid. This seems a little harsh – we prefer to think about where religious beliefs come from: the pained parts of ourselves.

2015 • Lifehack

Philosophy - Plato

Plato was one of the world's earliest and possibly greatest philosophers. He matters because of his devotion to making humanity more fulfilled.

2014 • People

Political Theory - Karl Marx

Karl Marx remains deeply important today not as the man who told us what to replace capitalism with, but as someone who brilliantly pointed out what was inhuman and alienating about it.

2014 • People

The Perfect Country

This is a thought experiment about what the perfect country might be like. It's not an idle daydream, it's a way of highlighting some of the problems with our own nations and a way of signalling what the true opportunities might be.

2016 • Lifehack

How to Find Fulfilling Work

The key to finding fulfilling work is to think a lot, analyse one's fears, understand the market, reflect on capitalism.

2015 • Lifehack

Why We Love to Blame Our Partners

It’s an odd quirk of relationships that, after a time, we tend to develop the sincere conviction that it is all always our partner’s fault.

2016 • Lifehack

How to Use Drugs

We’re still only at the dawn of learning how to use drugs properly – knowing what drugs we need and when we should take them. We look forward to a brighter future for drug use.

2016 • Health

Why We Love Disaster News

Why are we so captivated and fascinated by news stories about disasters? Is it ghoulish and voyeuristic? Not at all...

2015 • Lifehack

You might also like

Get Rich Quick

Why do people keep falling for financial scams? Dive into the history of con artists and how technology makes it easier for these schemes to flourish.

S1E1Money Explained • 2011 • Economics

How China Fooled the World

Robert Peston travels to China to investigate how this mighty economic giant could actually be in serious trouble. China is now the second largest economy in the world and for the last 30 years China's economy has been growing at an astonishing rate. While Britain has been in the grip of the worst recession in a generation, China's economic miracle has wowed the world. Now, for BBC Two's award-winning strand This World, Peston reveals what has actually happened inside China since the economic collapse in the west in 2008. It is a story of spending and investment on a scale never seen before in human history - 30 new airports, 26,000 miles of motorways and a new skyscraper every five days have been built in China in the last five years. But, in a situation eerily reminiscent of what has happened in the west, the vast majority of it has been built on credit. This has now left the Chinese economy with huge debts and questions over whether much of the money can ever be paid back. Interviewing key players including the former American treasury secretary Henry Paulson, Lord Adair Turner, former chairman of the FSA, and Charlene Chu, a leading Chinese banking analyst, Robert Peston reveals how China's extraordinary spending has left the country with levels of debt that many believe can only end in an economic crash with untold consequences for us all.

This World • 2014 • Economics

Why Is America So Rich?

Why is America the world's richest nation? Is it mostly because of the government, or is it thanks to entrepreneurs and businessmen?

PragerU • 2017 • Economics

Economics is for Everyone!

‘Economics is for everyone’, argues legendary economist Ha-Joon Chang in our latest mind-blowing RSA Animate. This is the video economists don’t want you to see! Chang explains why every single person can and SHOULD get their head around basic economics. He pulls back the curtain on the often mystifying language of derivatives and quantitative easing, and explains how easily economic myths and assumptions become gospel. Arm yourself with some facts, and get involved in discussions about the fundamentals that underpin our day-to-day lives.

RSA • 2016 • Economics

Billionaires

There are more billionaires than ever. But how does this vast accumulation of wealth affect the world?

S2E2Explained • 2019 • Economics

Controversially 1984: That Was the Year that Was

A look back at key events in TV, film, showbusiness and politics in 1984, a year when Spitting Image and The Young Ones revolutionised comedy and enraged the old guard. Conservative crusaders became hysterical over the horror of video nasties, and an attempt to silence pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood backfired spectacularly. In politics, Margaret Thatcher faced a fierce year-long battle with striking coal miners and the Conservative Party was hit by a deadly terrorist attack in Brighton. Narrated by Jan Leeming and featuring contributions from John Thomson, Cheryl Baker, Steve Nallon, Edwina Currie, Matthew Parris and Martin Bell.

S1E2Controversially: That Was the Year that Was • 2023 • Economics