The Economic Way of Thinking 13th Edition by David Prychitko, Peter Boettke, Paul Heyne

Exercise 2

Has the economic growth of European countries and their offshoots been achieved at the expense of poor nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America? Those who believe it has, usually point to the fact that European nations used their military power in the past to subjugate weaker nations, and in some cases to impose unequal trading relationships by force. Those who disagree point out that many of the poorest countries of the world had almost no contact until very recent times with the outside world, and that in other cases Western countries introduced resources that initiated economic growth. What evidence would resolve this contentious issue?