Why Aren't All Nations Equally Productive?

SEE HERE A thoughtful read for a Sunday morning. The source of the productivity of the West and indeed it's science and technology is a mystery to those who come at the question in a vacuum. I was fascinated some years ago to read the thoughts of Pierre Duhem on the subject as channeled to me by Stanley Jaki. SEE HERE Duhem's answer to why science emerged in the West is similar and in rather more depth than Marinov.

I remember having conversations with my father when I was a teenager about something close to this question. His answer was that to develop productivity you have to have time to think and a predilection to plan ahead and perhaps some austerity to point the need for such a program. He used those properties to suggest that the inhabitants of colder climates who had to struggle, plan ahead, store food for the Winter and then Winter over was perhaps explanation enough. Whatever the answer, the question is worth thinking about and recognizing that if you lose it, whatever 'it' is, then the prosperity you enjoy goes with it.