ABSTRACT
The consequences of an inadequate cultural base are comprehensive – on government, the economy, internal security, communications, even foreign policy. More fortunate countries have had decades and centuries of preparation for the tasks of economic development. As concern with the problem of economic development increased in the years following the Second World War, and especially as it became a subject for research, for what is called research and of instruction in the universities, there appeared a tendency to divide the world according to the state of wellbeing. In countries such as Ecuador and the Central American countries, where the urban white-collar and working classes are weak, inflationary pressures are much less strong. It is evident, the author thinks, how dangerous it is to treat the poor countries as a class. The poverty that produces so many common tendencies in behaviour – and which gives such stark uniformity to the village hut or urban slum – proceeds from very different causes.
