Some possible reasons why people earn differently in different places
sun3may2009—18w123d33%— 20h05m00s—0utc
Travelling all across the developed world this question’s naturally recurring. Here some likely fragments of the answer:
limits on people’s supply and demand
artificial
citizenship
discrimination (racial, sexual…)
natural
unique, hard-to-learn language and culture (say Japanese)
geographic isolation
scale of market
personal ability
work ethics and kata
education or experience
intellect, body and disposition
governments
regulations
competition policies
taxation
tariffs
knowledge and application of economic metaprinciples
division of labor
free trade
private property (the machinery of freedom)
social capital and infrastructure
urbanization
tangible
access to technology
roads, telephones, public health measures…
public transportation
information technology
intangible
rule of law
security
public education, literacy
access to finance
intellectual property, public commons
access to legal, tradeable property (think Hernando de Soto)
exploitation freeloading/happenstance
like how speakers from any country that speak English get access to unique opportunities for no other reason than speaking English
natural resources (think Arab countries)
currency as investment
It’s a stab. Please help with more ideas that come to mind.