In my other Econ class, our professor had us read chapter 1 of “Why Nations Fail” By Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. The very beginning of it was very interesting so I thought I would share it with you. Acemoglu compared two citites: Nogales, AZ in the US and Nogales, Sonora in Mexico. There is just a border between these cities. They used to be the same city until 1853 when the US border was extended. So, since these cities are incredibly close and even used to be the same city, they should have very similar living standards, right? Wrong. They do enjoy the same food, music, and culture (kind of). But the living standards are very very different. In Nogales, AZ the aaverage income is about $30,000, most of the residents are over 65 and receive medicare benefits, and most everyone there have high school diplomas. They have sewage system, public health, and law and order that quite free from corruption. However, just south of them in Nogales, Sonora in Mexico life is very different. The average income is much lower, around $10,000. Adults don’t have diplomas and teens aren’t even in school. The residents don’t live as long due to poor public health conditions. Law and order is very poor and opening a business is quite risky because of this. The goverenment is not nearly as free from corruption as we are here since democracy is a rather new concept to them.
Often times we talk about how other countries across seas live very different lives than us, like in China, Africa, or the middle east. Sometimes, though, we don’t realize how different life is just by crossing one foot over the border into our neighboring countries.