Lecture given on March 28, 2011 in Bratislava and on March 30, 2011 in Košice within Conservative Economic Quarterly Lecture Series /CEQLS/ by Peter J. Boettke, professor of economics at George Mason University (USA).

1. Why Are Some Nations Rich
and Others Poor?
Peter Boettke
George Mason University

2. What Do We Know?

3. Competing Hypotheses
 West is Rich Because the Rest are Poor
 Colonialism and Slavery
 Geographic luck
 North/South Divide
 Population luck
 IQ and the wealth of nations
 Cultural Legacy
 Religious and Political Ideology
 Economic Freedom
 Public Policy

7. Components of Economic
Freedom
 Security of Property Rights
 Fiscal Policy (Scale and Scope)
 Monetary Policy
 Regulation of Business
 Freedom of International Trade

8. The Mechanisms of
Development
 3 P’s and the 3 I’s
 Entrepreneurship and the Spirit of
Enterprise
 The propensity to truck, barter and
exchange

9. Conclusion
 There are many different ways to live, but very few ways for a
country and its people to live peacefully and prosperously.
 As Adam Smith pointed out -- to move from the poorest of
circumstances to opulent circumstances all that is required is:
“peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice”.
 Policies of Economic Freedom

Secure Private Property Rights

Fiscal Responsibility

Monetary restraint

Low Levels of Economic Regulation

Free Trade

10. Conclusion
 There are many different ways to live, but very few ways for a
country and its people to live peacefully and prosperously.
 As Adam Smith pointed out -- to move from the poorest of
circumstances to opulent circumstances all that is required is:
“peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice”.
 Policies of Economic Freedom

Secure Private Property Rights

Fiscal Responsibility

Monetary restraint

Low Levels of Economic Regulation

Free Trade