On Thu, 19 Sep 2002, Bradford DeLong wrote:
> > > > Would it be possible for us to have our standard of living if not
> > > > for the exploitation of much of the world?
> > >
> > > Well, since imports from countries with GDP per capita levels less
> > > than a third of the United States are about 1.5% of GDP, it would be
> > > possible.
> >
> > where do opec countries stand in your picture ?
>
> Except for Iraq, Indonesia, and Nigeria, the big oil producers are all
> relatively rich.
Hmmm. How about Venezuela? Per capital income is $6,000+. But I think I read recently that 75% of the population is under the international poverty line of a dollar a day. Can you be a rich country if most of your people are poor?
I'm not sure how this bears on the question of extracting surplus. I think theoretically Venezeula could be a perfectly egalitarian society and the oil price could be the same. But a definition of poor countries based on the status of the majority of their inhabitants rather than GDP per capita might change that original trade proportion, fwiw to the argument.
Michael