Rita Hammer, Chapter 13, question 6

The majority of this chapter was about policies that economists believe make a country wealthy or poor. The part that stuck out to me the most was that natural resources matter less than we think. I always thought of countries with an abundance of oil, coal, etc were extremely wealthy; however, Wheelan points out that "Isreal, which has no oil to speak of, is a far richer country than nearly all of its Middle Eastern neighbors that have large petroleum reserves." It was surprising to me that Wheelan even pointed out that abundant natural resources may actually be harmful to the growth of an economy. His point relates to the importance of trade. He says,"they (mineral riches) divert resources away from other industries, such as manufacturing and trade, that can be more beneficial to long term growth." This statement puts things into perspective for me, especially when talking about poor countries. Having stuff simply doesn't make any country rich; however, having skilled, educated people and the ability to trade does.