Why the Southern Hemisphere is Poorer

Writing by Sam Denby
Research by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation by Josh Sherrington
Sound by Graham Haerther
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster

Select footage courtesy the AP Archive

References

[NoOorZ]

Also many educated specialists tend to move to a richer country where where they can earn multiple times more than in home country. This leaves their home country with less specialists. If we think of smart people as a resource - then that resource is actively moving from poor to rich countries.

[spyrofrost]

Well to be fair, Antarctica's gross GDP is severely skewing the average.

[davidhuffman]

12 therefores. I think that’s a Wendover record!
I didn’t count the Howevers.

[elam]

I was wondering why we hardly hear about *any* innovation in the south. Then it hit me: when I hear visa holders complain, their problem pretty much centers on *not* wanting to return to their country of origin (though their phrasing can be undiplomatic af). It makes me wonder if there's a 'brain drain' also happening: if you're the type of person to innovate, then you're probably not the type of person to stick around the south any longer than you have to.

[robokast]

Wendover: "the temperature or physical environment of a place does not change a person in any meaningful way"

*Florida has entered the chat*

[ImplodedAtom]

I love how Wendover can almost make the word "Therefore" its own sentence.

[Jilktube]

Most people "employed" in agriculture aren't really employed at all. They grow food at the subsistence level for themselves and their family and maybe barter with what little extra they may have (which can also partially explain how people scrape by with such a low income). Imo these people aren't exactly comparable to old MacDonald and his farm.

[yodorob]

In the early 20th century, Argentina (and Uruguay) was poised to be as developed an economy as either Australia/New Zealand or the rich Northern Hemisphere economies, until political and economic instability increased steadily through the 20th century starting in the 1930s-1950s.

[joermnyc]

Australia kind of skews this though, they do send a lot of raw materials elsewhere, but they are a high GDP economy like a northern hemisphere nation.

[agage]

Wouldn't the economic center of gravity technically be somewhere in the mantle?

[orbssssss]

pretty easy to make the argument that new zealand is poor or underdeveloped when u leave them off half the maps lol

[tomlxyz]

What seems odd about the theory of being further away being better for development is that up to the middle age it didn't seem to be that way. Mesopotamia and later Rome were far more advanced than more Northern regions

[youssefmohamed]

The northern hemisphere also has a huge geographic advantage for trade and culture exchange with inland seas like the Mediterranean or rives suitable for trade, these factors maybe not be as relevant today but it was a decisive factor for civilization development historically especially prior to and during the bronze age

[Jilktube]

So we're not going to talk about what happened to formerly colonial governments after decolonization? How so many high positions of power were filled by corrupt officials with wildly out of touch economic policies? Decolonization and localized governance is a good thing, but I believe its mismanagement stymied some countries' development by at least 100 years.

[einerpregnan]

Just wanna point out that on minute 9:52 when talking about temperate climate, the area highlighted in the southern hemisphere is the Patagonia in both Chile and Argentina. Not a great place for crops. The weather on the southern hemisphere doesn't correlate 1:1 with the latitude and weather in the northern hemisphere, the southern hemisphere tends to be cooler, mainly because of the Humboldt current and stuff yara yara

[Pugetwitch]

The southern hemisphere used to actually be very rich in ancient times - there were many kingdoms throughout South America and Africa and also southeast Asia and India that were amazingly beautiful and luxurious, with large armies and palaces for royalty.

[eyezak_m]

You know sometimes I forget that most of the worlds population is above the equator

[theeyeofra]

"In the US's National Hockey League..."

**Angry Canadian noises**

[russc]

I don't think you can look at a whole hemisphere like this. What drives Africa is completely different to what drives Oceania and South America. Different histories, different geography, limited common factors.
I understand that it's just a mechanism to talk about your real topics, but still, I don't buy it.

[porthose]

Personally, I would have been more interested in comparing Australia and New Zealand with some African or South American nations in the same relative latitude. Given that sort of comparison, I believe that your assertions and conclusions would be far different from what is presented here.