Why tropical countries develop slowly?

Question

I live in the Philippines and I wonder why our country with those others in the tropic develops very slow compared to cold countries. Does climate affects people's attitude?

Answer 1

According to one theory discussed on a PBS show "Guns, Germs & Steel" based on a book of the same name
http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/
The failure in your area was due to the plants which grow which produce nuitritional stuff that can't be stored the way wheat, barley, etc., can in the Mesopotamia area and can't be cultivated with available animals which can be fed off the products. So harvesting food is a full time job all year around.

Answer 2

Lack of resources is one of the most important factors.

Another one is the presence of endemic disease. Countries that carry high disease loads in their populations cannot develop quickly because half the people are sick half the time. I'm talking mostly about malaria here but there are other diseases which are common in tropical countries. Countries in temperate zones often do not have these disease problems. Several of these diseases are carried by insects, and the hard winters of much of Europe and America kill off those insects every year. In tropical areas insects of one kind or another never stop breeding.

Some one mentioned "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. This is a very good explanation of the reasons why
China got an early start, followed by Europe and then America.

Some people have argued with some of the details but he is probably correct. He has spent a lot of time in New Guinea and originally came from near Boston in the USA so has seen both sides of development.

Answer 3

No, it doesn't. The rate of development of a country depend on the attitude of their people, but their people attitude is not affected by climate. Look at S'pore, they're in the equator area, does their country develop slowly?
The factor of politic also play a major role in these problem, with good politic condition, a country will develop faster (I'm not saying Philippines has political problems, perhaps there's something that I don't know about Phillippines)

Answer 4

Politics do play a role, but I think that it's mostly about resources. You see, many small, independent islands do not necessarily have---oil. If you did-there would be lots of money and interest in development all over. If a smaller island is partnered with a larger area, then it is usually developed. Social development also plays a part. Take for instance Japan--a traditionally highly driven country. Knowing how small the island is and amassing other lands and resources they would become powerful (well, that was a strategy at one point anyway) and so they've made their mark politically and, to stay in the game, now technologically. If your island could grow a tropical medicine that would cure AIDS--trust that every inch of that island not protected for the medicinal vegetation would be developed in a heartbeat.

Answers; resources, social/cultural development, politics

Answer 5

Jerrod Diamond won a Pulitzer Prize trying to answer that question in "Guns, Germs, and Steel" The Phillipines is relatively rich compared to the past and certainly other nearby countries. Having agriculture with crops such as wheat allows a country to focus more of its resources on things other than food. Having an environment that supports those kind of crops as well as appropriate domestic animals is important too. In the Phillipines, there may be no appropriate places where iron ore, appropriate fuel, and navigatable rivers are there so that industry can take root. It is important to have a society that values education and hard work. I have known many Phillipinos and I am confident that that is not a limiting factor. It is important to have freedom, lack of corruption in government and society, a good rule of law, and free markets. Those might be limiting factors.

Answer 6

Tropical countries develop slowly???

You mean like:

The Incas,
The Aztecs,
The Mayans,
The Egyptians,
The Phoenicians,
The Babylonians and
The Hindus?

All of the great early civilizations, sciences, philosophies and religions come from the tropics.
.

Answer 7

~Oil swimming pools form on my storage floor. because of the fact of undesirable engine seals. My automobile has by no ability been in any Arab us of a. Neither has the North Slope, The Gulf of Mexico, The North Sea or Teapot Dome (which became a great deal depleted whilst the republican administration of Warren Harding offered the army reserves in California and Wyoming to Sinclair oil - for a value in between the final scandals in American historic previous (sorry brittosm26 - the elephants are as corrupt because of the fact the donkeys, this is purely that the donkeys tend to be greater protecting of our surroundings)). to no longer subject. Oil is a renewable source. start up growing to be dissimilar ferns and a dinosaur or 2, bury them, stick to stress and warmth and permit treatment for some million years.

Answer 8

no climate does not, only inept government