Why Poor Countries Are Poor

The culture of corruption does not start at the top. It starts at the
bottom. As long as ordinary people tolerate corruption, corruption will
take root and permeate society. As long as ordinary people believe that
self interest is unrelated to the interests of others, corruption will
be tolerated.



The essence of prosperity is free and fair exchange between
individuals. That means one does not exploit the other, and both
benefit. When one party exploits the other, the losing party ceases to
produce for lack of motivation. Poverty results. Poverty is difficult
to escape when there is no reasonable expectation of reward for effort.
A depressed country will remain depressed as long as people feel
hopeless and do not recognize that they have the power to change by
refusing to be exploited.

It all starts with the individual who says "there's no point."  That person has given up.  It is up to the individual to say "wait a minute, what can I do to get around this obstacle?"