网帖翻译

Balaji Viswanathan
Former life as investor, trader, finblogger and a builder of fintech tools
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way
- Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Developed countries are all alike. They are all modern democracies with universal education, free trade, capitalism and high scores in ease of doing businesses. They have a strong rule of law, secularism for the most part and a scientific outlook.
There is diversity in developed countries. Some have more resources (US, Norway) and some have none (Japan, Singapore). Some are in great trade routes (Hong Kong, USA) while others are in none (Canada, Switzerland). Some are hot (Australia), some are cold (Finland). These differences matter very little to their incomes. What matters is the paragraph above.

幸福的家庭都是一样的；不幸的家庭有各自的不幸。
- 《安娜-卡列尼娜》，列夫-托尔斯泰
发达国家都是一样的。他们都是现代民主国家，拥有普及教育、自由贸易、资本主义和便利的经商环境。他们有强大的法治，大部分是世俗主义和科学观。
发达国家有多样性。有些国家有更多的资源（美国、挪威），有些国家没有（日本、新加坡）。有些处于关键的贸易路线上（香港‘特区’、美国），而有些则不在其中（加拿大、瑞士）。有些人很热（澳大利亚），有些人很冷（芬兰）。这些差异对他们的收入影响不大。重要的是上面那段话。

Developing countries are unhappy in their own way. Some are reasonably educated with good human development scores (like Cuba) with no free market to provide jobs or money to those humans. Most are undereducated. Some have resources (like Venezuela) but with horrible political systems.
Many of these poor countries are war-torn with tribal allegiances superseding the rule of law. Some of these poor countries are too small and become a pawn of the bigger powers.
Ultimately, if a country’s populace is educated, can elect and question their government and where people are allowed to build businesses easily — those are harder to be kept poor for a long time. East or west, hot or cold, north or south — they become developed.
EDIT: People asked why I didn’t include Qatar or Saudi Arabia, it is because by many popular definitions of what a developed country means they don’t appear.

发展中国家则有各自的不幸。有些国家受过合理的教育，有良好的人类发展得分（如古巴），但没有自由市场来为这些人提供工作或金钱。大多数国家教育程度低。有些国家有资源（如委内瑞拉），但有可怕的政治制度。
许多这样的穷国还饱受战争蹂躏，对部落的忠诚度取代了法治。其中一些穷国太小，成为大国的棋子。
归根结底，如果一个国家的民众受过教育，可以选举和质疑他们的政府，并且允许人们轻松地建立企业--这些国家就很难长期保持贫穷。无论东方还是西方，无论炎热还是寒冷，无论北方还是南方--他们都会成为发达国家。
编辑：人们问我为什么不包括卡塔尔或沙特阿拉伯，这是因为根据许多关于发达国家的普遍定义，它们并不满足。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Chaitanya Patel
I think developed middle eastern countries are good only for native populous/citizens, not for the foreign labour force (which constitutes a big part of total residents). So that might be the reason for high development indexes. A real developed country will give equal hold to all its residents, not just citizens.

我认为发达的中东国家只对本地人口/公民有利，对外国劳动力（占居民总数的很大一部分）则否。所以这可能是其拥有高发展指数的原因。一个真正的发达国家会给所有居民以平等的待遇，而不仅仅是公民。

Rakesh Jain
Is democracy really working for country like India where mass people still votes based on unimportant factor like caste, religion etc..and they in turn get that kind of politicians and leader or would it better to have some kind autocratic rule(benevolent dictatorship) for e.g. China where people have freedom but still governance is dictate by development and not people sentiments?
Only when a certain level of maturity is achieved in common people, democracy would make more sense.

对于像印度这样的国家来说，民主真的有用吗？在那里，大众仍然基于种姓、宗教等不重要的因素进行投票，他们反过来得到那种政治家和领导人，还是说最好有某种专制统治（仁慈的独裁），例如中国，人们有自由，但治理仍然是由发展而不是人民的情绪所决定的更好？
只有当普通人达到了一定的成熟度，民主才会更有意义。

Samantha Smith
India needs to get rid of it’s caste system, which is the most important thing holding them back! It is also medi, cruel and allows the literal rape of the lower caste by the upper caste, who walk away free.

印度需要摆脱它的种姓制度，这是阻碍他们发展的最重要的东西！它也是中世纪的、残酷的，允许上层种姓对下层种姓进行实际的强暴，而上层种姓则可以逍遥法外。

Niraj Sharma (நிராஜ் சர்மா)
if dispute is between upper and lower then it’s highlighted more by media. If we analyse all rapes and murders you will find it’s always a mix.

如果争端发生在上层和下层之间，那么媒体会更加喜欢报导。如果我们分析所有的强奸和谋杀案，你会发现它总体来说差不多。

Rakesh Jain
I completely agree, caste system has created and still creating one of the worst social issue in India. India has very good laws to deal with it, but it need good social and legal implementation. This anyways is true for all kinds of laws in our country and not only this particular.

我完全同意，种姓制度已经并仍然在印度造成最糟糕的社会问题之一。印度有很好的法律来处理这个问题，但它需要良好的社会氛围和法律执行。不管怎么说，这一点对我们国家的各种法律都适应，而不仅仅是对种姓制度。

Anupsahi B
In a democracy, politicians,officers, businesses men,professionals are a representative of the society in general.from which all above are coming.if majority of people in that society are corrupt,hypocrites ,the majority of people described above coming from the same society whether elected or sexted or voluntarily are corrupt and hypocrites.
So unless we change, society will NEVER change and the system running that society will NEVER change
So for is to become developed society,WE the people should reform ourselves first and expect the same from the people running the society

在一个民主国家，政治家、官员、商人、专业人士都是社会的代表，而上述所有人都来自这个社会。如果这个社会的大多数人都是腐败的、虚伪的，那么上述大多数人都来自同一个社会，不管是被选举的、被选中的还是自愿的都是腐败的、虚伪的。
因此，除非我们自己做出改变，否则社会将永远不会改变，管理社会的体制也永远不会改变。
所以，要想成为一个发达的社会，我们人民应该首先改革自己，并期望管理社会的人也能如此。

Adithya Sundar
Putting it simply, Countries where people value disciplin are developed, Countries where people are not disciplined are undeveloped

简单地说，人们重视纪律的国家是发达的，人们不重视纪律的国家是不发达的。

Osmond Ng
Lives in Singapore (1981–present)
First of all, to become a developed and prosperous country (make it any organization), you need a common correct direction. For this to happen you have to have a brillant and strong leader group with interests of the country in the Top of their list.
NO opposition parties should be allowed while you are still on the way up, as this will only result in lowering efficiency, wasting of time and resources for infighting, and dividing the country apart while it is still in turmoil/developing.
Imagine a company with the same group of people lead by two different general managers always fighting for power. Imagine a soccer team with the same group of players led by two different captain who always disagree with each other.
All super powers ever existed is never a democracy until it's a super power. Not British empire obviously, not US hegemony which only have democracy 2 centuries after it is founded.
Morever you need a brilliant leader with great vision and meticulous planning who puts the country's interest before anything else, in the mould of Lee Kuan Yew for Singapore. Which to be frank, it's very very rare for both qualities to be combined.
After you become prosperous and developed, if you wish to move to the next step, to become very prosperous and very developed, you need to overcome the current world hegemony, the US. US stop at no means to put any powerful country/alliance down, because they do not want you to be so prosperous and developed, worrying that it might affect their hegemony.

首先，要成为一个发达和繁荣的国家（或任何一个成功的组织），你需要一个共同的正确方向。要做到这一点，你必须有一个出色而强大的把国家的利益放在首位的领导集团。
当你还在上升阶段时，不允许有任何反对党，因为这只会导致效率降低，浪费时间和资源进行内讧，并在国家仍处于动荡/发展中时将其分裂。
想象一下，一家公司有同一批人，由两个不同的总经理领导，双方总是为权力而战。想象一下，一支足球队有同一批球员，由两个不同的队长领导，他们总是彼此不同意对方的意见。
所有曾经存在的超级大国在成为超级大国之前从来都不是一个民主国家。英帝国显然不是，美国的霸权也不是，它在成立两个世纪后才有民主。
此外，你还需要一个具有伟大远见和缜密计划的杰出领导人，把国家的利益放在首位，就像新加坡的李光耀那样。坦率地说，这两种品质的结合是非常非常罕见的。
在你变得繁荣和发达之后，如果你想进入下一步，变得非常繁荣和非常发达，你需要克服当前的世界霸权，即美国。美国不惜一切代价把任何强大的国家/联盟打倒，因为他们不希望你如此繁荣和发达，担心你会影响他们的霸权。

USSR was nearly as strong as the United States, and was successfully disintegrated by the United States. The US propaganda painted them as the ultimate devil, the USSR goes into an arm race with US and eventually collapsed. A brilliant move by the United States who carefully measure economics and military development while making use of propaganda and soft influence to bring USSR downfall.
Japan was on its way to an economy larger than US and was shut down by the United States with the brilliant plaza accord. During that period, United States propaganda painted Japan as an enemy. Eventually, military force and political influence force/trick Japan to sign the plaza accord. This brillant economic trap by the United States succeeded.
EU was formed, a dangerous organization which can Challenge the US status, so US encourage the England out of EU.
China, the latest success story. All the anti terrorism, education and development projects that they did for tibet and xinjiang are reported as massacre, concentration camp and poor life by the US media. Sanctions on HW because US cannot spy the world with HW equipment, plus 5G is the platform for the future technology.
United States are always using their political influence, their propaganda, their sanctions and their military power to put any prosperous huge country down. They are playing a zero sum game, which they believe that if others succeed, they will fail and maybe they are right because they are the super power NOT because they are top player on a fair playing ground but because they are the player AND referee of the game.

苏联几乎和美国一样强大，却被美国成功瓦解。美国的宣传把他们描绘成末日的魔鬼，苏联与美国进行军备竞赛，最终崩溃了。这是美国的高明之处，他们仔细衡量经济和军事发展，同时利用宣传和软实力影响使苏联垮台。
当日本正处于经济规模超过美国的阶段时，却被美国以漂亮的一纸广场协议停滞。在此期间，美国的宣传将日本描绘成一个敌人。最终，军事力量和政治影响迫使/欺骗日本签署广场协议。美国的这一绝妙的经济陷阱成功了。
欧盟成立了，这是一个可以挑战美国地位的危险组织，所以美国鼓励英国退出欧盟。
中国，最新的成功故事。他们为西藏和新疆所做的所有反恐、教育和发展项目都被美国媒体各种抹黑。制裁华为是因为美国不能用华为设备监视世界，加上5G是未来技术的平台。
美国总是利用他们的政治影响力、宣传、制裁和军事力量来压制任何繁荣的大国。他们正在玩一个零和游戏，他们认为如果别人成功，他们就会失败，也许他们是对的，因为他们是超级大国，不是因为他们是公平竞争的顶级玩家，而是因为他们是游戏的玩家兼裁判。

Yu Ruan
Economics Researcher
I see some terrible answers to this question, so I feel the need to jump in to debunk the myths.
First of all, this question is still highly debatable among development economists. No one knows the answer for certain. There are many schools of thoughts. None is perfectly satisfactory. A good answer does not just answer why a particular country is poor. It also answers why it fails to achieve growth while others succeed.
Potential theories include colonialism, geography, culture and natural resources. But these all fail to provide satisfactory answer to the question. Let’s see why.
Geography: Some posit that countries in tropical climate are poor because the climate is not conducive to agriculture. It also breeds many diseases such as malaria. Geography is also important for natural resources. Without natural resources, countries cannot grow. Others, which I have seen on this thread, theorize that prosperous countries tend to cluster because of spillover effects.
All of these theories are unfortunately wrong. Singapore is a tropical country and yet it is one of the most prosperous countries in the world. Other tropical countries such as Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand all have achieved high growth rates for the past decade. They are not yet prosperous countries, but the incredible economic growth and performance is enough to crush the tropical climate theory. Meanwhile, Japan has very few natural resources, while Africa has vast amount. Similarly, the spillover effects theory does not explain why South America is poor even though it is so close to America, or why North Korea, which used to be joined with South Korea as one country, is so under-developed.

我看到这个问题下有一些糟糕的答案，所以我觉得有必要跳出来揭穿这些迷思。
首先，这个问题在发展经济学家中仍有很大争议。没有人知道肯定的答案。有许多流派的想法。没有一个是完全令人信服的。一个好的答案不仅仅是回答一个特定国家为什么贫穷。它还能回答为什么它不能实现增长而其他国家却能成功。
潜在的理论包括殖民主义、地理、文化和自然资源。但这些都不能为问题提供完美的答案。让我们来看看原因。
地理环境：有些人认为，热带气候的国家之所以贫穷，是因为气候不利于农业。它还滋生了许多疾病，如疟疾。地理环境对自然资源也很重要。没有自然资源，国家就无法发展。还有一些人，我在这个主题上看到过，说理论上繁荣的国家往往因为外溢效应而聚集在一起。
不幸的是，所有这些理论都是错误的。新加坡是一个热带国家，但它是世界上最繁荣的国家之一。其他热带国家，如越南、老挝和泰国，在过去十年里都取得了高增长率。他们还不是繁荣的国家，但令人难以置信的经济增长和表现足以粉碎热带气候理论。同时，日本的自然资源非常少，而非洲却有大量的自然资源。同样，溢出效应理论也不能解释为什么南美离美国这么近却很穷，或者为什么曾经与韩国合为一体的朝鲜如此不发达。

Culture: The culture theory suggests that there are some cultures that are conducive to economic growth, while others stampede it. Most prosperous countries in the world are Protestants, while the poorer ones are Islams/Muslims. Perhaps the moral values taught by Christianity help growth, while the conflict between radical Islam and moderate Muslim makes it harder for countries to achieve growth. Meanwhile, Confucian values which emphasize education and family also helps countries such as China and Vietnam to achieve wonderful growth for the past decade.
Again, the culture theory cannot explain why South Korea and North Korea, which were once one and the same, have now deviated so much in terms of economic prowess. Nevertheless, the culture theory may help to explain why political institutions and economic institution of these countries are different, which will be explained later.
The theory that I find the most convincing come from Acemoglu’s Why nations fail, in which he theorizes that extractive institution keeps a country poor. There are some holes in this theory, but with some modification, I think it can provide a good explanation as to why some countries are rich while others poor. The choice of a political and economic institution depends largely on history of a country. At every junction of the history, there is a monumental choice made that can change the course of economic growth forever. Such a choice is impossible to predict. A war in country A could be beneficial while the same war in country B could be detrimental, for the choices made after the war by country A are different from the ones made by country B. There are economic institutions and political institution that are conducive to inclusiveness, such as democracy and capitalism, but this doesn’t mean that authoritarian states are all extractive.

文化：文化理论认为，有一些文化有利于经济增长，而另一些文化则会阻碍经济增长。世界上最繁荣的国家是新教徒，而较贫穷的国家是伊斯兰教/穆斯林。也许基督教教导的道德价值观有助于增长，而激进的伊斯兰教和温和的穆斯林之间的冲突使各国更难实现增长。同时，强调教育和家庭的儒家价值观也帮助中国和越南等国家在过去十年实现了漂亮的增长。
但是同样，文化理论也不能解释为什么曾经是同一个国家的韩国和朝鲜现在在经济实力方面出现了如此大的偏差。然而，文化理论可能有助于解释为什么这些国家的政治体制和经济体制不同，这一点将在后面解释。
我认为最具有说服力的理论来自于阿西莫格鲁的《国家为什么会失败》，他在书中提出了一个理论，即榨取性机构使一个国家贫穷。这个理论有一些漏洞，但经过一些修改，我认为它可以很好地解释为什么有些国家富裕，而有些国家贫穷。政治和经济体制的选择主要取决于一个国家的历史。在历史的每一个路口，都会有一个伟大的选择，可以永远改变经济增长的进程。这种选择是无法预测的。A国的战争可能是有益的，而B国的战争可能是有害的，因为A国战后的选择与B国的选择是不同的。

Stefan Stackhouse
Former Government Finance Officer (1978–2017)
First of all, geography is a lottery, and quite a few places are not winning numbers. It is a simple fact that some places have climates that are well-watered and conducive to agriculture, and other places are not. Some places have good sites for seaports and navigable rivers, while others do not. Some places are well-endowed with valuable mineral resources, while others have very little of these. The US hit the trifecta - one of the most well-endowed among any of the nations in all of these. Many of the poorest nations are lacking in more than one of these critical factors.
This is not a complete explanation, of course - the reality is much more complicated than that. Geography does constitute the board upon which the game is played, however.

首先，地理是一种彩票，相当多的地方都不是中奖号码。一个简单的事实是，有些地方的气候水草丰美，有利于农业发展，而其他地方则不然。有些地方有良好的海港和通航河流的地点，而其他地方则没有。有些地方拥有宝贵的矿产资源，而另一些地方则很少有这些资源。美国在所有这些方面都达到了三连冠--是所有国家中条件最优越的国家之一。许多最贫穷的国家缺乏这些关键因素中的一个以上。
当然，这并不是一个完整的解释--现实要比这复杂得多。然而，地理确实构成了进行游戏的棋盘。

Ernest W. Adams
keen but amateur observer of geopolitics.1y
War; disease; corruption; incompetent government; social conservatism; lack of natural resources.
AIDS, malaria, and other diseases are a terrible drain on a country's resources, and sick people cannot be productive.
Social conservatism typically consigns women to inferior roles and wastes their brainpower.
Kleptocracy is another worldwide problem, but it hurts poor countries the most.

战争；疾病；腐败；无能的政府；社会保守主义；缺乏自然资源。
艾滋病、疟疾和其他疾病对一个国家的资源是一种可怕的消耗，而生病的人是没有生产力的。
社会保守主义通常将妇女置于低等角色，并浪费她们的脑力资源。
贪污腐败是另一个世界性问题，但它对贫穷国家的伤害最大。

Samantha Smith
Loved living in Saudi Arabia almost 12 Years
I think the question should be ”What makes some countries unable to become developed and prosperous countries”. Usually the answer to that would greed, inept leadership, dictators and nepotism. When the families and friends of the families rule the country, while stealing all the aid given to it and all the income of the country, while keeping the citizens poor and uneducated, it will never develop and prosper. There are too many examples of this in Africa. I can’t understand why the US and other developed nations continue sending aid in terms of money that will only be stolen by those in charge! The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, no matter how much aid is given to them. The country will never develop as long as these ’leaders’ remain in power.

我认为这个问题应该是"是什么让一些国家无法成为发达和繁荣的国家"。通常情况下，这个问题的答案是贪婪、无能的领导、独裁者和裙带关系。当家族和家族的朋友统治国家，同时窃取给予国家的所有援助和国家的所有收入，同时让公民保持贫穷和无知时，国家将永远不会发展和繁荣。在非洲有太多这样的例子了。我不明白为什么美国和其他发达国家继续以金钱的形式对他们提供援助，而这些钱只会被那些负责人偷走！我不明白。无论向他们提供多少援助，都只会让富人都变得更富，穷人变得更穷。只要这些"领导人"继续掌权，这个国家就永远不会发展。

Gregory Norton
Studied Political Philosophy & Economics
What makes a country unable to become developed and prosperous?
Usually it's government. "Usually" may be an understatement as I cannot think of any 20th century country held back by anything but it's government (of course government could be imposed by an invader).

是什么让一个国家无法成为发达和繁荣的国家？
通常是政府。"通常"可能是一种轻描淡写的说法，因为我想不出任何一个20世纪的国家除了政府之外在通往发达繁荣的路上还受到什么阻碍（当然，政府可能是由入侵者强加的）。

Paul Passarelli
M.Sc. in Engineering & Economics, The University of Connecticut (Graduated 1987)
Some countries are poor in natural resources. That’s a difficult externality to overcome.
Some countries are politically, ethically, and morally corrupt. That’s in internal deficit which can be impossible to overcome.

一些国家的自然资源很贫乏。这是一个难以克服的外部因素。
有些国家在政治上、伦理上和道德上都很腐败。这是无法克服的内部负面因素。

Robert Weir
All is a bit harsh. Some countries that have not become prosperous can be traced back to one basic issue. Lack of equal rights for women and children (and grandparents in some cases). When, usually young unemployed, men have to procreate to feel fulfilled and they call all the shots in any society, overpopulation is usually the result. In countries where women are in government some improvements occur but are seldom sustained, usually because of grievances from young unemployed men about old traditions, religions etc.
In parallel with ‘equality’, education is the next most important thing. All children must have equal and open access to a (hopefully not religious) education; with practical education being paramount. By that I do NOT mean house keeping for girls but rather education about things that can help the citizens in whatever stage of economic development they happen to be at.
Micro loans to women have led to vast improvement in some countries. The next item is countries heve to stay out of wars, be they civil or expansionary. If any, or all, of these were to persist over a few generations, I believe most every country on the planet could become more prosperous.

要把所有因素都总结出来有点难。一些没有变得繁荣的国家可以追溯到一个基本问题。妇女和儿童（在某些情况下还有祖父母）缺乏平等权利。当--通常是年轻的失业者--男人认为生育就是人生目标，而且他们在那个社会中发号施令，人口过剩通常就是结果。在妇女担任政府职务的国家，会出现一些改善，但很少能够持续，通常是因为年轻的失业男子对古老的传统、宗教等的不满。
与"平等"平行，教育是第二重要的事情。所有儿童都必须有平等和开放的机会接受（希望不是宗教）教育；其中实践教育是最重要的。我指的不是女孩的家务事，而是在经济发展的任何阶段，能够帮助公民的教育。
向妇女提供的小额贷款已经在一些国家带来了巨大的改善。下一个目标是国家必须远离战争，无论是内战还是扩张性战争。如果这些措施中的任何一项，或所有项目，能在几代人的时间里坚持下去，我相信地球上的大多数国家都能变得更加繁荣。

Robert Skiles
College Professor/medical Professional (1980–present)1y
The policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are responsible for much of the poverty that exists in “Third World” countries. Under the guise of benevolence they make loans to poor developing countries (ostensibly to include them into the world economy) while, simultaneously, duing their currencies and controlling their natural resources. With a (drastically) dued currency (often times thousands of times less than ‘standard’ currencies) these countries can never pay off their debts subsequently and effectually surrendering control of their destinies to those that would extort their natural riches and exploit their human (work) potential. There is virtue in poverty…only if you are rich and (militarily) powerful.

世界银行和国际货币基金组织的政策应对"第三世界"国家的大部分贫困负责。在仁慈的幌子下，他们向贫穷的发展中国家提供贷款（表面上是为了将它们纳入世界经济），同时使它们的货币贬值并控制它们的自然资源。随着货币的（急剧）贬值（往往比'标准'货币低几千倍），这些国家随后永远无法偿还债务，实际上是把对其命运的控制权交给了那些要敲诈其自然财富和剥削其人类（工作）潜力的人。说贫穷是一种美德......是只有当你富有和（军事上）强大的时候才会说的话。