Yup.
But to tell countries that they have to replicate the conditions of nineteenth-century northwest Europe, or the nineteenth-century settler colonies, or late-twentieth century southern Europe, or late-twentieth century East Asia--that is profoundly, profoundly unhelpful...
>From my naive perspective, all first world countries
>seem to share these characteristics:
>
>1) They industrialized under far more favorable
>conditions, with fewer competitors and less ravaged
>environments.
>2) They nurtured and protected infant industries via
>many measures. They continue to do so today.
>3) They developed empires that helped their
>development immeasurably (England, etc.) or were in
>privileged positions within an empire (South Korea,
>etc.).
>4) They blatantly disregarded intellectual property
>laws.
I'd disagree with (3): Germany never had an Empire, for example... And lots more countries have nurtured infant industries than have successfully industrialized... But (1) and (4) are well taken... I was just looking at pictures of deforestation in the Indian Doab...
Brad DeLong