AN INTRODUCTION TO NIALL FERGUSONS LECTURE THE SIX KILLER APPS
OF PROSPERITY
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THE GREAT DIVERGENCE The separation in wealth/innovation/etc.
between the developing world (Asia, South America & Africa) and
the West (Europe, North America & Australia). Ferguson wants to
understand how this divergence occurred, what caused the
divergence, and the future of the world economy now that the gap is
closing.
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BACKGROUND TO FERGUSONS HISTORICAL REFERENCES Mughal Empire
(1526-1857)
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BACKGROUND TO FERGUSONS HISTORICAL REFERENCES Ottoman Empire
(12991923)
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BACKGROUND TO FERGUSONS HISTORICAL REFERENCES Samuel Johnson
(1709-1784) First to write the Oxford Dictionary Documented
behaviors and tics led historians to diagnose him with Tourettes
Syndrome posthumously Famous British philosopher and author
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BACKGROUND TO FERGUSONS HISTORICAL REFERENCES Ibrahim
Muteferrika Originally from Transylvania, a convert to Islam An
Ottoman diplomat, publisher, courtier, economist, geographer, man
of letters, astronomer, historian scholar and theologian. First
Muslim to run a printing press with moveable Arabic type
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ITS NOT GEOGRAPHY East Germany/ West Germany Communism/
Capitalism Trabant vs. Mercedes Benz North Korea/ South Korea
Communism/ Capitalism
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WHAT HAS CREATED THE DIVERGENCE? Ferguson says it is a societys
ideas and institutions, not geography, that creates the Great
Divergence. Adam Smith, not Sean Connery 1776, publishes Wealth of
Nations
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COMPETITION Europe Political units China Uniformity Imperial
civil service examinations
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SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Europe Experimental method gave man
control over nature. The Orient and Arab world Theocracy
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JOHN LOCKE AND PROPERTY RIGHTS Influential thinker of the
Enlightenment Social contract theory The relation of natural and
legal rights Theory of value and property Argues that the
individual ownership of goods and property is justified by the
labor exerted to produce those goods or utilize property to produce
goods beneficial to human society. Fergusons example of indentured
servitude Importance of property ownership.
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MODERN MEDICINE Modern Medicine Breakthroughs in curing
infectious diseases Sorcery
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THE CONSUMER SOCIETY The Consumer Society The foundation of
industrial society You want people to buy a lot of clothes. Propels
economic growth, even more than technological innovations. Bare
Necessities Mahatma Ghandi Leader in Indias nationalist movement
1915-1947 Swaraj: self-rule Sarvodaya: end poverty through
improvements in cottage industry
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THE WORK ETHIC The Work Ethic Max Weber The Protestant Work
Ethic Leisure Preference Now the preference of the West?
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THE KILLER APPS CAN BE DOWNLOADED The Great Re-convergence Is
the West deleting its own apps? Does the sequencing of the download
matter? Do these killer apps need to occur in a particular order?
Africa- Libya Can China do without having property rights?