Essay: High income countries are rarely authoritarian countries in our technological age driven by innovation

Statue of the creative Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci in Tuscany, Italy.

Research indicates that in the long-term, non-authoritarian countries are more likely to experience greater economic growth (See: No, Autocracies Don’t Make Economies Great, Cato Institute, 2021 and Time Under Authoritarian Rule and Economic Growth, CORI Working Paper No. 2007-02).

In 2025, there are no high-income countries that are authoritarian countries which are not heavily dependent on oil revenue.

The October 20, 2025 article China’s push for innovation is not lifting productivity​ indicates "The striking conclusion is that China has stopped closing the productivity gap with the global leaders under Xi Jinping and is instead now dropping further behind. The weakness of productivity growth in turn means that economic growth is being powered almost entirely by investment, despite diminishing returns and escalating debt."

Previously, I wrote the essay at: The USA is more innovative and productive than China and Russia. This essay is a sequel to that essay.

Stephen Kotkin is a historian who compiled a highly respected 3 volume work on the life of Joseph Stalin.

Kotkin said of authoritarian regimes, "This is the problem of despotism. It’s why despotism, or even just authoritarianism, is all-powerful and brittle at the same time. Despotism creates the circumstances of its own undermining. The information gets worse. The sycophants get greater in number. The corrective mechanisms become fewer. And the mistakes become much more consequential.”

Creativity, innovation, and technology are increasingly drivers of economic growth and change in the world. And in today's fast-moving world, countries and companies need to adapt to rapid change or quickly fall behind more economically competitive countries.

Openness to experience is important to one's level of creativity. Needless to say, top-down, authoritarian regimes which restrict information, engage in heavy propaganda and oppress dissent, are not big fostering openness in their societies. Thus, their societies have less of an ability to be creative/innovative.

In today's economic climate, there is evidence that in order middle-income countries to become high-income countries, they must escape the middle-income trap and innovation plays a role in this matter.

• High-income countries are rarely authoritarian countries in our technological age driven by innovation: "High-income countries are less likely to be authoritarian because innovation-driven economies thrive on openness, free exchange of ideas, and individual autonomy, which clash with authoritarian control. Data backs this: in 2024, most high-income countries (per World Bank classifications) score high on the Democracy Index (e.g., Norway, Denmark, Canada), while authoritarian regimes like China or Russia, though economically advanced, rely on state control and suppress dissent, limiting certain types of innovation. However, exceptions exist—Singapore and some Gulf states combine wealth with authoritarianism, leveraging technocratic governance and resource wealth rather than broad-based innovation. The correlation isn't absolute, but authoritarianism often stifles the creative freedom needed for cutting-edge technological progress."

The Amazon description of the book The Exponential Age: How Accelerating Technology is Transforming Business, Politics and Society:

“

A bold exploration and call-to-arms over the widening gap between AI, automation, and big data—and our ability to deal with its effects We are living in the first exponential age. High-tech innovations are created at dazzling speeds; technological forces we barely understand remake our homes and workplaces; centuries-old tenets of politics and economics are upturned by new technologies. It all points to a world that is getting faster at a dizzying pace. Azeem Azhar, renowned technology analyst and host of the Exponential View podcast, offers a revelatory new model for understanding how technology is evolving so fast, and why it fundamentally alters the world. He roots his analysis in the idea of an “exponential gap” in which technological developments rapidly outpace our society’s ability to catch up. Azhar shows that this divide explains many problems of our time—from political polarization to ballooning inequality to unchecked corporate power. With stunning clarity of vision, he delves into how the exponential gap is a near-inevitable consequence of the rise of AI, automation, and other exponential technologies, like renewable energy, 3D printing, and synthetic biology, which loom over the horizon. And he offers a set of policy solutions that can prevent the growing exponential gap from fragmenting, weakening, or even destroying our societies. The result is a wholly new way to think about technology, one that will transform our understanding of the economy, politics, and the future.

”

Map of labor productivity in the world by country: The USA has one of the highest labor productivity rates in the world - significantly higher than both China and Russia

See also: The USA has one of the highest labor productivity rates in the world - significantly higher than both China and Russia and Labor productivity

According to the U.S. Labor Bureau of Statistics, labor productivity is a measure of economic performance that compares the amount of output with the amount of labor used to produce that output."

Investopedia says about the importance of labor productivity to an economy, "Labor productivity is largely driven by investment in capital, technological progress, and human capital development. Labor productivity is directly linked to improved standards of living in the form of higher consumption. As an economy's labor productivity grows, it produces more goods and services for the same amount of relative work. This increase in output makes it possible to consume more of the goods and services for an increasingly reasonable price."

According to Yahoo Finance: "Efficiency in production, also coined as productivity, is one of the major driving forces behind economic resilience in a country."

Investopedia indicates: "Education tends to raise productivity and creativity, as well as stimulate entrepreneurship and technological breakthroughs. All of these factors lead to greater output and economic growth."

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development states concerning labor productivity: "Labour productivity is a key precondition for high growth of output, employment and wages and central to long-term growth in living standards."

In an economy, one of the causes of wage raises is an increase in marginal labor productivity rates.

Question: In today's economic environment, are high income countries rarely authoritarian countries?

As can be seen below, the answer to this question is an unequivocal yes!

Investopedia says about the importance of labor productivity to an economy, "Labor productivity is largely driven by investment in capital, technological progress, and human capital development. Labor productivity is directly linked to improved standards of living in the form of higher consumption."

According the Yahoo Finance: "According to Yahoo Finance: "Efficiency in production, also coined as productivity, is one of the major driving forces behind economic resilience in a country... The United States has one of the strongest economies in the world. The country hosts some of the largest companies in the world, which contributes to the high GDP per capita in the country."

As can be seen in the map above, the USA has one of the highest labor productivity rates in the world.

See also: The USA has one of the highest labor productivity rates in the world - significantly higher than both China and Russia

USA: Nonfarm Business Sector: Labor Productivity (Output per Hour) for All Workers

2025: There are no high-income countries that are authoritarian countries which are not heavily dependent on oil revenue

• Give the probability of a high-income country being an authoritarian country that is not heavily tied to oil revenue.: "There are currently 87 high-income economies (GNI per capita >$14,005) per the World Bank's July 2025 update. Among these, the authoritarian ones (EIU Democracy Index score <4) are Bahrain (2.45), Brunei (3.05), Kuwait (2.78), Oman (3.05), Qatar (3.17), Saudi Arabia (2.08), and the UAE (3.07). All seven rely heavily on oil and/or natural gas revenues, which constitute the majority of their GDP and government income (e.g., >50% for each, often >80%). No high-income authoritarian countries exist outside this hydrocarbon-dependent group. Thus, the number of qualifying countries is 0, making the probability 0/87 ≈ 0."

Singapore

• Is Singapore a high-income country? Is it an authoritarian country?:

"Yes, Singapore is a high-income country. According to the World Bank's 2024-2025 classification, Singapore's GNI per capita is $88,390, well above the high-income threshold of $14,005.

Singapore is not classified as an authoritarian country. The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index 2024 scores Singapore at 6.38, placing it in the "flawed democracy" category (6-7.99) rather than "authoritarian" (<4). While Singapore has strong state control, limited press freedom, and restrictions on political opposition, it maintains competitive elections, rule of law, and a technocratic governance model, distinguishing it from authoritarian regimes like Saudi Arabia (2.08) or China (2.07). Its hybrid system blends democratic elements with centralized control, but it does not meet the threshold for authoritarianism."

Contemporary history

In 2024, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Russia during the years of 2012–14, 2022- present, which are countries that have lots of oil, no authoritarian regime have been a high income country (See: High income countries in 2024 and World Bank high income countries).

High income countries are rarely authoritarian countries

As noted above, research indicates that in the long-term, non-authoritarian countries are more likely to experience greater economic growth (See: No, Autocracies Don’t Make Economies Great, Cato Institute, 2021 and Time Under Authoritarian Rule and Economic Growth, CORI Working Paper No. 2007-02).

Articles that support the thesis that authoritarian are rarely authoritarian countries:

• Is an authoritarian government better for economic development than a democracy? Authoritarianism is a hindrance to sustained economic growth, 2020

• False promises: The authoritarian development models of China and Russia False promises: The authoritarian development models of China and Russia, 2024

Russia's history relative to the middle-income trap

See also: Middle-income trap

In terms of the middle-income trap, Russia escaped the middle-income trap in during these periods: Russia (2012–14, 2022- present). Although the war in Ukraine boosted Russia's GNP, due to USA's weakness listed above, Russia's wartime economy negatively affected its long-term economic potential in terms of the civilian sector such as the erosion of long-term human capital; lower budget for education spending; lower R&D spending in the civilian sector; less resources to improve its labor productivity rate and diversify its economy, etc. (See: Essay: Russia's economy is that of a shrinking, aging, and poorly qualified population). In the past, a number of factors were impeding Russia's ability to escape the middle-income trap.

For more information, please see:

• Low labor productivity is one of the most acute and important problems facing Russia

• Russia and innovation

Why the USA's per capita income is MUCH higher than Russia's and China's

• Why the USA's per capita income is MUCH higher than Russia's
• Why the USA's per capita income is MUCH higher than China's

Why authoritarian countries often do poorly and fail

• Slow and steady growth over the long term via capitalism and the rule of law versus short-sighted authoritarian economic growth that is costly to the long term economy
• Why the corrupt, authoritarian regimes of China and Russia are losing their long term competitive edge relative to the USA
• Top 12 reasons why people are flocking to the USA and leaving the corrupt, authoritarian countries of China and Russia

Aggressive, authoritarian countries and war:

• Why wars and hyper-militarism often make a country weaker

"Give me liberty, or give me death!" - Patrick Henry

Cultural characteristics of the most productive and prosperous countries per capita

See: Cultural characteristics of the most productive and prosperous countries per capita

The strength of the United States economy. American civic freedoms

The United States Constitution is an excellent constitution with a separation of powers, a bill of rights and the electoral college system that gives sensible rural people influence. And because the U.S. Constitution establishes a federal system, its state governments enjoy extensive authority.

Map of the United States

On October 17, 2024, The Economist stated concerning the United States:

“

Over the past three decades America has left the rest of the rich world in the dust. In 1990 it accounted for about two-fifths of the GDP of the G7. Today it makes up half. Output per person is now about 30% higher than in western Europe and Canada, and 60% higher than in Japan—gaps that have roughly doubled since 1990. Mississippi may be America’s poorest state, but its hard-working residents earn, on average, more than Brits, Canadians or Germans. Lately, China too has gone backwards. Having closed in rapidly on America in the years before the pandemic, its nominal GDP has slipped from about three-quarters of America’s in 2021 to two-thirds today.

”

For more information, please read:

• The United States will be the leading power in the world for the foreseeable future

China and Russia are authoritarian countries

• The rising rule of communist idiocracy in China

• Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

• What drives Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin?

China’s quixotic quest to innovate: A statist economy can’t foster creativity

See also: Communist China’s quixotic quest to innovate: A statist economy can’t make creativity greatly blossom and Innovation and Creativity and Openness

• China’s Quixotic Quest to Innovate. A Statist Economy Can’t Foster Creativity, Foreign Affairs, May 29, 2024

2025: "The United States’ lead in global innovation further strengthens its structural power. U.S. firms generate over 50 percent of the world’s high-tech profits, whereas China captures only six percent. This innovation edge positions U.S. companies at critical points in supply chains, enabling Washington to twist production networks, as demonstrated by its coordination of multinational semiconductor restrictions on China." - Michael Beckley, Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University, See: A long, hard look at America’s strengths and weaknesses as Trump comes in again. Well worth a read.

In 2025, the United States has 4.2% of the world's population and China has 17.3% of the world's population. And yet as can be seen above, U.S. firms generate over 50 percent of the world’s high-tech profits, whereas China captures only six percent.

For China's ranking in the Global Innovation Index in 2023, please see: China ranking in the Global Innovation Index 2023.

According to China Daily, “One significant way Asian cultures differ from Western cultures is that they place group identity over individual identity. This factor limits the ability of Asians to think outside the box. “

The Chinese leader Xi Jinping said about the Chinese economy, "Though our economy has vaulted to second place in the world, it is big and not strong, and its bloatedness and frailty are quite prominent. This is mainly reflected in the lack of strength in innovation ability, which is the ‘Achilles heel’ of this lug of an economy of ours.”

For more information, please see: The USA is more innovative and productive than China and Russia

Russia's relative inexperience in cross-border production and technological chains compared to some countries

See also: Russia's economy is that of a shrinking, aging, and poorly qualified population

The October 2024 Russian International Affairs Council article Russia’s Economy: Short-Term and Long-Term Challenges indicates:

“

With the fourth industrial revolution taking speed, diverse high-tech goods and a wide range of services will increasingly dominate world trade, with small and medium-sized enterprises getting more apace and influence among international trade actors. On the other hand, traditional trade will begin to give way more and more clearly to advanced production cooperation, when the standard exchange of goods and services is replaced by forging bilateral or multilateral production and technological chains. Thus, in the emerging economies, foreign direct investment will be more important than traditional trade. So far, Russia does not have a lot of experience in participating to such cross-border production and technological chains; this is an art that it still has to muster.

”

For more information, please see: Russia's economy is that of a shrinking, aging, and poorly qualified population

Authoritarian regimes are less stable which hurts economic growth

There is research indicating that economies disrupted by political turmoil/unrest grow at an average rate 2 percentage points slower than those that are untroubled, with a persistent lag in the growth rate of 1 to 2 percentage points in the succeeding year.

The abstract for the University of California, San Diego 2018 research paper Threats and Political Instability in Authoritarian Regimes: A Dynamic Theoretical Analysis:

“

Non-democracies are seen as inherently unstable because of the high frequency of irregular and often-violent leadership turnovers. Our tractable stochastic game model investigates authoritarian stability and instability by portraying a world in which dictators are forced to tolerate threatening lieutenants because they are skillful at overcoming existential threats (shocks) to the regime. This unavoidable choice allows lieutenants to build up their own power bases, planting the seeds of various forms of authoritarian instability, including purges, coups, and civil war. Our model predicts, first and foremost, that changes in the frequency and severity of exogenous threats can have a profound impact on political stability. Contrary to research on the trade off between competence and loyalty, our model shows that when threats to the regime are existential and purges are an option, the dictator will always prefer to employ a competent lieutenant. Also, surprisingly, even with minimal institutional guarantees, we find that authoritarian regimes can be quite stable if the dictator and the lieutenant need each other for their unique skills in the face of major challenges. However, in accordance with the existing literature, credible institutions to ensure the welfare of ousted officials do, indeed, reduce the chance of internal conflict.

”

Why are some countries more innovative than others?

See also: United States and innovation

"Countries vary in their level of innovation due to a combination of factors including their investment in research and development (R&D), education system, entrepreneurial culture, government policies that support innovation, intellectual property protection, collaboration between academia and industry, and even cultural attitudes towards risk-taking and creativity, which can significantly influence a nation's capacity to generate new ideas and technologies.

Key factors contributing to a country's innovative capacity:

Education and Workforce:

A well-educated population with strong STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills is crucial for generating and applying innovative ideas.

Research and Development (R&D) Investment:

Countries that allocate a significant portion of their GDP to R&D tend to produce more innovations.

Entrepreneurial Culture:

A supportive environment that encourages startups and risk-taking fosters innovation by allowing new ideas to be tested and developed.

Government Policies:

Policies that provide tax incentives, grants, and funding for R&D, as well as strong intellectual property protection, incentivize innovation.

Collaboration Networks:

Strong connections between academia, research institutions, and businesses allow for knowledge sharing and the rapid translation of research into commercial applications.

Market Sophistication:

A dynamic market with demanding consumers can push companies to develop innovative products and services.

Cultural Factors:

Cultures that value curiosity, creativity, and openness to new ideas tend to be more innovative.

Source: Why are some countries more innovative than others?

Milionaire migration in 2024. USA was the second most popular destination for millionaires to flock to

See also: Top 12 reasons why people are flocking to the USA and leaving the corrupt, authoritarian countries of China and Russia and The United States will be the leading power in the world for the foreseeable future

See:

*Why Millionaire Migration Matters?, Henley and Partners, 2024

*Mapped: Millionaire Migration in 2024, Visual Capitalist

Why has the West been so successful?

See also: Why has the West been so successful?

In the above map, the Western World regions of the world are colored light blue.

There are countries in Asia that have adopted much of Western values such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

The above graphic comes from the video Why the West Won’t Collapse with Stephen Kotkin (Stephen Kotkin is an American historian, academic, and author.)

For more information, please see: Why has the West been so successful?

Question: Are there very positive aspects of Western Civilization? If so, what are they?

The West:

• Why the West Won’t Collapse with Stephen Kotkin (Stephen Kotkin is an American historian, academic, and author.)

Western values:

• Why the West Won

• Why Has the West Been So Successful?

• China and Russia Are Giving Authoritarianism a Bad Name, April 18, 2022

• Why the West is Worth Saving - Konstantin Kisin

• The West: The Genius of Western Civilisation. A 6-part series

• Why Western Civilization Needs Christianity

• White supremacy is bad. Western culture isn’t.

• The Foundations of Western Civilization

Western missionaries and the good things that they helped create in the world. Also, Christianity and social stability

St. Basil of Caesarea founded the first hospital. Christian hospitals subsequently spread quickly throughout both the East and the West. See: Christianity and hospitals

See also: Christianity and social stability

The article The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries published in Christianity Today notes:

“

In his fifth year of graduate school, Woodberry created a statistical model that could test the connection between missionary work and the health of nations. He and a few research assistants spent two years coding data and refining their methods. They hoped to compute the lasting effect of missionaries, on average, worldwide... One morning, in a windowless, dusty computer lab lit by fluorescent bulbs, Woodberry ran the first big test. After he finished prepping the statistical program on his computer, he clicked "Enter" and then leaned forward to read the results. "I was shocked," says Woodberry. "It was like an atomic bomb. The impact of missions on global democracy was huge. I kept adding variables to the model—factors that people had been studying and writing about for the past 40 years—and they all got wiped out. It was amazing. I knew, then, I was on to something really important." Woodberry already had historical proof that missionaries had educated women and the poor, promoted widespread printing, led nationalist movements that empowered ordinary citizens, and fueled other key elements of democracy. Now the statistics were backing it up: Missionaries weren't just part of the picture. They were central to it... Areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in nongovernmental associations. In short: Want a blossoming democracy today? The solution is simple—if you have a time machine: Send a 19th-century missionary... ...at a conference presentation in 2002, Woodberry got a break. In the room sat Charles Harper Jr., then a vice president at the John Templeton Foundation, which was actively funding research on religion and social change. (Its grant recipients have included Christianity Today.) Three years later, Woodberry received half a million dollars from the foundation's Spiritual Capital Project, hired almost 50 research assistants, and set up a huge database project at the University of Texas, where he had taken a position in the sociology department. The team spent years amassing more statistical data and doing more historical analyses, further confirming his theory. ...Woodberry's historical and statistical work has finally captured glowing attention. A summation of his 14 years of research—published in 2012 in the American Political Science Review, the discipline's top journal—has won four major awards, including the prestigious Luebbert Article Award for best article in comparative politics. Its startling title: "The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy." ...over a dozen studies have confirmed Woodberry's findings. The growing body of research is beginning to change the way scholars, aid workers, and economists think about democracy and development.

”

John Wesley

David Beidel wrote in his article The Bloodless Revolution: What We Need to Learn from John Wesley and the Great Awakening

“

In the 18th Century, most of Europe was on fire. Bloody civil wars and revolutions were decimating nation after nation. Unrestrained injustice, government and Church corruption, slave trade and the oppression of the poor created a powder keg for violence. Miraculously, Great Britain escaped the horrors of civil war and the brutal savagery that revolutionary anarchy engenders. Few ancient monarchies are still in place today. The mystery of the UK’s capacity to honor the old guard, while raising up a more democratic system without a revolution, is a sociological wonder. Many credit the Great Awakening, in particular the Methodist movement, launched by John Wesley, for this extraordinary and peaceful transition. Methodism unleashed an army of “little Christ’s” all over Europe. They cared for the poor, took in unwanted and abused children, fought unjust laws and labor conditions, visited prisoners, and battled against slavery; They joined hands with the Apostles and “turned the world upside down.” Eventually compassion became fashionable... America is in desperate need of a Christ-infused revolution of compassion. We are a land of churches, who are well positioned to hear and answer the cries of our struggling communities. If a critical mass of congregations committed themselves to radically sharing the Gospel and passionately serving under-resourced/at-risk communities, we will see peace powerfully rise in these times of trouble. This will also enable, as in the days of John Wesley, wise reformation to take place because the true Christian Church is theologically hardwired to bring about peaceful, meaningful change that benefits all. I have written much about this in my book, Samaria, The Great Omission, and treasure every opportunity to strategize with churches who have a heart to minister in this way. Let us stand in the gap as cultural/community peacemakers and healers in this season of sorrow and division. May our magnificent obsession be Jesus, the everlasting, ever loving, rescuer of the oppressed and Father of all.

”

Asian Development Bank: The middle-income countries transition to high-income counties around the globe: Characteristics of graduation and slowdown

See also: Middle-income countries and Middle-income trap

Many Latin American middle-income countries haven't become high-income countries and have half the labor productivity of countries that are technological leaders.

See also: Middle-income trap

Middle-income countries is the term which the World Bank defines as: "economies with a gross national income (GNI) per capita between $1,136 and $13,845 as of 2024. MICs consist of lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle-income countries, both of which are part of the income categories that the World Bank uses to classify economies for operational and analytical purposes," as measured in U.S. dollars.

The Asian Development Bank is an institution established in 1966 with 31 offices in the world designed to promote social and economic development in Asia. The Bank is headquartered in Manilla, Philippines.

The abstract for the Asian Development Bank 2015 paper entitled The Middle-Income Transition around the Globe: Characteristics of Graduation and Slowdown indicates:

“

The paper investigates the situation of middle-income economies around the world. Since 1965, only 18 economies with a population of more than 3 million and not dependent on oil exports have made the transition to being high-income. Many more have not been able to move beyond the middle-income stage. We conduct statistical tests of differences between two groups of economies across a range of growth and development variables. The results suggest that middle-income economies are particularly weak in the following areas: governance, infrastructure, savings and investment, inequality, and quality—but not quantity—of education. The findings are used to suggest whether the People’s Republic of China is successfully progressing through the middle-income stage or whether it may get caught in a middle-income trap.

”

Innovation and countries going from middle-income countries to high-income countries

See also: Innovation

Below are articles on innovation and countries going from middle-income countries to high-income countries:

• Innovation key to avoiding middle-income trap, Daily Star, 2024

• Escaping the Middle-Income Trap: Innovate or Perish, Asian Development Bank, 2017

• Caught in the Middle? The Economics of Middle-Income Traps, 2015

• The Middle-Income Trap: Stagnant Innovation and Growth in Latin America

"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change." -Albert Einstein

Middle-income trap

The middle-income country of China is endeavoring to become a high-income country.

See: Middle-income trap

See also: Middle-income trap and Innovation and Productivity

The middle-income trap refers to an economic situation where a middle-income country is failing to transform itself to a high-income economy due to its rising costs and declining competitiveness (Historically few countries successfully manage the transition from low to middle to high income).

The Asia Society describes the middle-income trap thusly: "The “middle-income trap” is a theory of economic development in which wages in a country rise to the point that growth potential in export-driven low-skill manufacturing is exhausted before it attains the innovative capability needed to boost productivity and compete with developed countries in higher value-chain industries. Thus, there are few avenues for further growth — and wages stagnate."

The 2023 Mint News article There is no easy escape from the middle-income trap indicates: "Graduating from middle income to developed world status is the greatest prize in development economics. Only a handful of East Asian and Central European countries have made the transition so far, along with a few fortunate resource-rich countries."

Arguments that China will not escape the middle-income trap

• China Confronts the Middle-Income Trap by Nouriel Roubini (economist), Project Syndicate, 2024

• China has yet to join the ‘rich country’ club. Has the middle-income trap been sprung?, South China Morning Post, 2024

• With “Xinomics” Caught in a Trap, China Will Not Join the Ranks of Advanced Economies, September 2023, Nippon.com

China might escape the middle-income trap, but it will be challenging for it to do so

• Trapped! China and the ‘middle-income trap’, 2024

Russia appears to be stuck in the middle-income trap

For a number of reasons, Russia does appear to be stuck in the middle-income trap, so while it may escape the middle-income trap someday, it will not be anytime soon.

Global Innovation Index

See also: Global Innovation Index and Innovation

The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for and success in innovation. It is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It was started in 2007 by Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) and World Business (a British magazine).

2023 Global Innovation Index rankings

Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore are the world’s most innovative economies in 2023, according to WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII), as a group of middle-income economies have emerged over the past decade as the fastest climbers of the ranking.

VisualCapitalist.com ranked the USA 3rd in innovation in 2023.

The difference between creativity and innovation. Capitalism incentivizes innovation by making it more profitable for the innovators

See also: Creativity

According to Business News Daily:

“

Creativity is the spontaneous development of new ideas and out-of-the-box thinking. Innovation is applied creativity, in which the spark of a new idea is turned into a novel solution or process. Hunter weighs in with his own definition: “Innovation is the implementation or creation of something new that has realized value to others.” Innovation is realized most vividly in the form of a tool, physical benefit or aid that solves a problem or creates an advantage.

”

Capitalism incentivizes innovation by making it more profitable for the innovators (See: Relation between Innovation and Capitalism).

The human brain is the most complex physical entity in the universe.

The role of technology and innovation in shaping democratic capitalist economies

• The Role of Technology and Innovation in Shaping Democratic Capitalist Economies, Denny Center For Democratic Capitalism, Georgetown University, 2024

China, lower innovation than the USA and intellectual property theft

See also: Atheism and stealing

China's overweight leader Xi Jinping is being compared to Winnie the Pooh. As a result, Chinese censors are banning the name and images of Winnie the Pooh on its social media websites.

According to China Daily, “One significant way Asian cultures differ from Western cultures is that they place group identity over individual identity. This factor limits the ability of Asians to think outside the box. “

In 2019, the Chinese leader Xi Jinping said about the Chinese economy, "Though our economy has vaulted to second place in the world, it is big and not strong, and its bloatedness and frailty are quite prominent. This is mainly reflected in the lack of strength in innovation ability, which is the ‘Achilles heel’ of this lug of an economy of ours.”

Furthermore, in 2024 it was reported that "innovation requires incentives and an institutional guarantee to reward risk-taking. Hence, the private sector needs to grow faster. Research has found that the share of China’s private sector among the 100 largest listed companies in China dropped to 36.8% at the end of 2023 from 55.4% in mid-2021."

In addition, China is a communist country and communists countries, including China, are well known for their political propaganda and various forms of political/cultural indoctrination. For example, in 2018, the Associated Press published an article entitled China’s mass indoctrination camps evoke Cultural Revolution.

Intellectual property (IP) is knowledge that can be owned. Examples include copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets.

According to the website China Law Blog:

“

The disappearance of Made in China 2025. From 2015 to 2017, the Chinese government touted its Made in China 2025 program as its core policy for development of the Chinese economy. Due to pressure from the U.S., Europe and Japan, public discussion of the program has virtually ceased. Foreign opposition to this program has been based on the following two factors: ...The advances in technical expertise outlined in the program do not rely on Chinese domestic innovation. Rather, the program relies on forced technology transfer and IP theft.

”

The American Enterprise Institute reported in 2018:

“

In reports from 2013 and 2017 the independent Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property concluded that China was the chief culprit in the loss of between $250 and $600 billion annually from IP theft (patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets).

”

Bloomberg News declared concerning China and intellectual property theft: "A 2017 survey by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China found that 'visible progress' had been made around IP, but 51 percent of firms said enforcement was still inadequate."

Book

The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline by Yasheng Huang Ph.D., Yale University Press (August 29, 2023)

Annales school of history and technology/commerce

• Annales school of history: "Annales school, School of history. Established by Lucien Febvre (1878–1956) and Marc Bloch (1886–1944), its roots were in the journal Annales: économies, sociétés, civilisations, Febvre’s reconstituted version of a journal he had earlier formed with Marc Bloch. Under Fernand Braudel’s direction the Annales school promoted a new form of history, replacing the study of leaders with the lives of ordinary people and replacing examination of politics, diplomacy, and wars with inquiries into climate, demography, agriculture, commerce, technology, transportation, and communication, as well as social groups and mentalities. While aiming at a “total history,” it also yielded dazzling microstudies of villages and regions. Its international influence on historiography has been enormous."

Fernand Braudel

General international politics essays

• The myth of multipolarity. What do the terms unipolar, bipolar and multipolar mean as far as international relations?
• The so-called multipolar world is often mere Chinese propaganda and public relations
• Why did so many self-declared international relations experts miserably fail concerning their multipolar fantasy?
• What drives Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin?
• Why has the West been so successful?
• Why the corrupt, authoritarian regimes of China and Russia are losing their long term competitive edge relative to the USA
• Slow and steady growth over the long term via capitalism and the rule of law versus short-sighted authoritarian economic growth that is costly to the long term economy
• Was December 2021 a pivotal moment in the future of global politics for decades to come?
• American and Western triumphalism or a realistic appraisal of world affairs?
• Attention anti-American hyper Russophiles/Sinophiles. Time is not on your side
• The 2023 BRICS Summit was a bunch of hoopla. We still don't live in a multipolar world.
• The wreck of the HMS Multipolar World Fantasy - Humor
• The anti-Christianity Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Joseph Stalin and Xi Jinping have opposed homosexuality so this isn't a very high moral bar for China and Russia to clear

The United States essays

The flag of the United States

• The United States will be the leading power in the world for the foreseeable future
• The USA has one of the highest labor productivity rates in the world - significantly higher than both China and Russia
• The USA is more innovative and productive than China and Russia
• Why the USA's per capita income is MUCH higher than Russia's
• Why the USA's per capita income is MUCH higher than China's
• Is the USA an economic powerhouse and juggernaut?
• Business is more powerful than military might. All REAL Americans know this!
• The USA's military was ranked the strongest in the world in 2024
• The terrible track record of forecasters predicting rapid de-dollarization and/or the imminent demise of the U.S. dollar
• Size of a working age population in a country and its correlation with national GNP in advanced economies. The ability of the United States to attract some of the best and brightest workers in the world
• Top 12 reasons why people are flocking to the USA and leaving the corrupt, authoritarian countries of China and Russia
• Isolationalism is growing in the United States. Is this a good thing?
• The USA is outproducing Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil production. The best is yet to come
• The USA can reduce its national debt. It has done it before
• The citizens of the United States are happier than the citizens of Russia and China. USA! USA! USA!
• The U.S. Navy is the most powerful navy in the world
• Gold reserves by country. The USA is still golden!
• The genius of the founding fathers of the United States, happiness and labor productivity
• Why I am glad that Conservapedia has an American flag in its logo rather than a Chinese or Russian flag
• The USA will become bigger, better and stronger than ever before! Russia and China will not! USA! USA! USA! - Humor
• Attention all hyper Sinophiles/Russophiles. The USA being better than China and Russia is an incredibly low bar for Americans to jump over!

China essays

The flag of China.

• Skepticism about China remaining a global power

• It's time to be very bearish about China's long-term economy

• Decline of China

• The rising rule of communist idiocracy in China

• China's decline and some Roman Empire decline parallels

• Communist China’s quixotic quest to innovate: A statist economy can’t make creativity greatly blossom

• Donald Trump, who is favored to win the 2024 presidential election, wants to hammer China with high tariffs

• The chance that China's GDP will one day overtake that of the US is declining

• China has a labor productivity rate that is a WHOLE LOT LOWER than the labor productivity rate of the USA

• China's promotion of the transexual agenda in the USA

• Is there anything more fragile than an economy run by communists - especially one that has the cult of personality surrounding Xi Jinping?

Russia essays

Vladimir Putin in a KGB uniform.

See also: Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

• Why I am not bullish on Russia's future

• Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

• Russia is not a conservative country

• Russia is dying out. The war in Ukraine is making Russia's demographic crisis even worse

• Low labor productivity is one of the most acute and important problems facing Russia

• Russia's economy is that of a shrinking, aging, and poorly qualified population

• Russia's labor shortage

• Russia is far behind the USA and China as far as innovation and Russia's ability to innovate is likely going to get worse

• Russia has the 3rd highest rate of divorce in the world

• We Made History: Citizens of 35 Countries Overestimate Their Role in World History (Covers the notion of Russian exceptionalism)

• Does Russia have more national narcissism than the USA? How exceptional do Russians think their nation is?

• How anti-homosexuality is Russia? Are there countries that are more anti-homosexuality and more family-friendly?

• Russian war crimes in Ukraine

• Russian oil: Lower future production/profits due to future higher extraction costs and other inefficiencies

• Russia has the 2nd highest rate of alcoholism in the world

• Russia's unfriendly business environment

• Russia's HIV/AIDS epidemic

• Are the Russians as unhappy as they claim they are?

• Vladimir Putin's foolish decision to launch an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

• Russia's economy and gas and oil profits will be BADLY damaged when China's economy declines

• China's economic decline will contribute to Russia's decline

• Russia's neo-Nazi problem belies one of Putin's rationales for the war in Ukraine

• The future of Russia. The kings of wishful thinking versus a more realistic scenario

• Russia getting pummeled in wars in Russian history that hyper Russophiles will not tell you about

• The war in Ukraine and Western sanctions will significantly hurt the Russian economy

• Russia's economy will enter a long-term decline

• Is Vladimir Putin a beacon of family values or a complete failure in this matter?

• Is Vladimir Putin a manchild or a macho genius?

• Search results for "Russia demographics crisis" using the Russian search engine Yandex and Google Scholar. Fanatical Russophiles weep for Mother Russia who has a low fertility rate that is far below a replacement level of births

• Do you strongly believe in gun rights? Don't move to Russia!

• Nordsteam pipelines being sabotaged and Putin failing to play politics several moves ahead on the politics chess board

• Doomsday phobias - including nucleomituphobia caused by Russian threats to use a nuclear bomb

• Russian Statistics Service indicates that 22.6 percent of Russian households aren't connected to a sewer system

• America's sewage system is better than Russia's TERRIBLE sewage system

• Vladimir Putin understimates small opponents - big time! - Humor

• There is no evidence that Vladimir Putin plays chess - Humor

• Why a Westerner falling for Russian propaganda is like a man who is seduced by a corrupt 300 pound woman - Humor

External links

• Investing in Science to Fuel Economic Prosperity: My Long-read Q&A with Benjamin Jones, American Enterprise Institute, 2021