why is eastern europe poorer than western europe? why is eastern europe poorer than western europe?

Eastern Europe was praised for being exceptional during the first wave of the pandemic. Yellow areas poorer than Mexico. In other words, the few dark areas (a handful in Germany and one each in a few other nations) are the only parts of Europe that are economically equal or better thanthe United States. Central American Countries & Facts | People, Tribes & Culture of Central America, Central America Geography | Map, Physical Features & Examples, Physical & Human Features of Europe | Mapping the Features of Europe, Comparing Life in Different Locations in Europe, Latin America | Population, Ethnic Groups & Demographics, Physical Features of Russia & Central Asia | Map, Characteristics & Geography, Where is Latin America? Its easternmost border is the Ural mountains. The main differences are the recognition of the pope as the head of the church, and the fact that priests in the Eastern orthodox faith are allowed to marry. In either event, the people of Romania and Moldova are closely related. Learn what is considered Eastern European, view a list of Eastern European countries and discover Eastern Europe religions. | Thomas Sowell 6,459 views Aug 4, 2022 Thomas Sowell Explains how geographical differences between Eastern and Western Europe played a key. Eastern Europe is 'poorer' than Western Europe, during the war they were helpless and were taken over by Germany or the Soviets, with the fall of both empires countries taken by Hitler. I'm from Balkan, we have to translate Thomas Sowell in albanian, serbo-croatian, bullgarian, rumunian, greec .. Eastern Europe refers to the eastern part of Europe. Despite substantial improvements in recent decades, the former East Germany continues to trail the former West Germany on important economic measures ranging from unemployment to productivity, according to an annual German government report on the status of German unity. (The most recent version of the report, from September, is available here in German. Europe Climate Zones & Classifications | What Is the Climate In Europe? Manage Settings One final comment. 7. Why did Eastern Europe lag behind Western Europe in terms of economic development? Eastern European death rates overtook those in the west in early October, but restrictions in the region which had eased after the first wave still lagged behind controls reintroduced in the west. Others suggested this eastern European exceptionalism could be explained by culture, with success in limiting the first wave being down to a mentality of fear and readiness to follow harsh rules stemming from the communist era. The largest country by area in eastern Europe is Russia with 677 thousand square miles. So, I put together an economic model of how this technology has advanced to come up with what I think is the real reason why the West conquered almost everyone else. 2023 Sowell.org. Example: Some people do not consider Russia to be part of Europe. See here for the complete series: I love listening to Dr. Sowell's wonderful explanations for everything. They were part of large empires, such as the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires. In 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, per-capita disposable income was 19,909 per year in the former East Germany the equivalent of about $22,500 based on the average euro-to-dollar exchange rate that year. The Slavic languages form a large branch of the Indo-European language family. Eastern Europe is home to a number of mountain ranges, including the Musala, the region's tallest mountain. When examining the culture and society of the countries of Eastern Europe, a clear difference can be seen in family structures. Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms. Some of the economic activity in energy-rich states such as North Dakota, for instance, translates into income for shareholders living elsewhere in America. The Netherlands is the country with the most time off in the world. crochet cardigan size chart on carolina thunderbirds salary; why is eastern europe poorer than western europe? Eastern Europe contained the virus so successfully in spring, it didnt experience the horrific hospital scenes seen in northern Italy, for example. | Thomas Sowell. Also Austria and Hungary drained ressources from the other areas (Bohemia being one of the few parts that was actually rather well off with a lot of industry). Both had one factor significantly holding them back: foreign invaders. Living Standard: Western Europe has higher standards of living than eastern European countries. Therefore, do not misunderstand the information. So that's not the answerit's something else. Poland and eastern europe (as well as parts of Germany) did not have the higher level of urbanism at this time as in comparison with some Celtic Gallic settlements, which were in many ways already integrated into the Roman trade network in the case of southern Gaul. 8. Here, we take a look at why this has happened. Western Europe: More Catholics and Protestant Christians can be seen. In this region may Catholics and Protestant Christians can be seen. By introducing very strict prevention measures early on, countries in the region had significantly fewer COVID-related deaths than their western European counterparts. For example, if I am fighting you and you figure out a better way to build an armed ship, I can imitate you. 55 chapters | This button displays the currently selected search type. Although they may be connected by us all being human beings, there is a lot that separates us as well. After the sack of Constantinople in 1204, however, the eastern economy was permanently disrupted, and wealth began to shift westward. It started after I gave an undergraduate here a book to read about gunpowder technology, how it was invented in China and used in Japan and Southeast Asia, and how the Europeans got very good at using it, which fed into their successful conquests. The 2018 version of the report is available here in English. That's because the Black Death was at its peak. He has a Masters in Education, and a Bachelors in Physics. These differences between eastern and western Europe will help you understand the magnitude of these differences better than before.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'questionscity_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_5',109,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-questionscity_com-medrectangle-4-0'); Western and Eastern Europe are on opposite sides of the continent. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, which spans roughly 40% of the continent's landmass while accounting for approximately 15% of its total . Even the Catholic Church held a different view from the eastern church. During the cold war period, this region was referred to as the Eastern bloc or else the Soviet bloc. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'questionscity_com-box-4','ezslot_1',110,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-questionscity_com-box-4-0'); Eastern Europe has a rich history with many cultures and languages. You can think of that as being much like a baseball team that hires better players to win more games, but in this case, instead of coaches, it's political leaders and instead of games there are wars. - Definition, Eligibility & Coverage, What Is Medication Reconciliation? Americans are not stupid, and when they complain about Europe, they are complaining about Western Europeans who are richer than Eastern neighbors yet less attentive to their own needs. Our World in Data COVID-19 Dataset. (In all economic statistics in this analysis, Berlin is counted in East Germany, even though the city was divided during communism and is not directly comparable to other parts of East Germany.). Also economically, the Western European countries are much more advanced than the eastern European countries. However, if we look back at the death rates of the two regions in the graph above, its clear that eastern European countries introduced restrictions when experiencing far fewer cases and deaths. Make a list of at least fifteen countries that are part of Eastern Europe. When we turn to the second wave (starting around September and ongoing), were faced with the opposite question: why did eastern European countries not act in spite of rapidly rising infections and deaths? Even before the Holocaust, Jews faced terrible discrimination from the Christian-majority populations in which they lived. When it's easier to travel and grow food, it's easier to sell the food at a greater. 2. Definitions of Western and Eastern Europe: Characteristics of Western and Eastern Europe: Difference Between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Difference Between Commonwealth and Protectorate. Stringency of COVID-19 control measures in eastern and western Europe. Read our research on: Congress | Economy | Gender. Excellent point. 7. Language spoken in most eastern European countries includes Russian and Ukrainian. Although Europe represents only about 8 percent of the planet's landmass, from 1492 to 1914, Europeans conquered or colonized more than 80 percent of the entire world. This has led to higher levels of entrepreneurship in the west while greater collectivism in the east. Hoffman's work is published in a new book titled Why Did Europe Conquer the World? Western Europe is a region in Europethat is associated with the western portion of the Eurasian landmass,as well as some countries on islands off its coast. Press J to jump to the feed. Turkish belongs to the Turkic language family. In either case, you'll still be spending money on the military and on military research. The standard of living of the population until the mid 19th century was about the same. Also, the people in Romania speak a language with romance roots, which is called the Romanian language. The countries in western Europe have a more individualistic culture, with people caring about their success. And almost no major companies have their headquarters in East Germany. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Maybe we should remind him that Mexico and China, as US states, would both be far below our poorest state Mississippi by 51% and 62% respectively for GDP per capita; and Japan would be barely above our poorest state Mississippi. I dont have a policy lesson here: simply an observation that the United Kingdom has one really rich region (Greater London) and quite few relatively poor regions. Others include Polish, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Slovenian, Croatian, Macedonian, Belorussian, etc. Oxford COVID-19 government response tracker, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. One difference is that Eastern European countries were part of the Soviet Union for decades while Western European countries had more independence during this period. Eastern Europe has a total population of about 258 million people. Most of the people who live here speak a Slavic language and belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Speaking of European prosperity, heres a fascinating map I saw on Twitter. @media (max-width: 1171px) { .sidead300 { margin-left: -20px; } } What are the Five Themes of Geography? By the way, the economy in some eastern European countries (Poland, Romania and Hungary) is relatively close to the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese or Scandinavian countries economy. However "poverty" refers only to the revenues of States and the level of economic development. 47 West Virginia, and not too far above No. Some argued that this was because of economics: that eastern European countries locked down early because they feared their economies would not be able to handle many people getting sick. They often wonder if theyre even in the same country when they arrive at their destination! Albanian forms its own branch of the Indo-European language family. Where is Eastern Europe? That was a really great question and it got me interested. Answer (1 of 21): It's not. However, unlike other Latin people, Romanians belong to the Eastern Orthodox faith, and unlike almost all other Eastern Orthodox countries, Romanians use the Latin alphabet. If we look at the stringency of control measures, we can also see that not all countries acted in the same way. Most of the major periods in European history (Middle Ages, Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment), also affected Eastern Europe. Western Europe is home to the oldest living population in the world. Max Weber Fellow in Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute. Despite these differences, the former East has narrowed the gap with the former West substantially in recent decades. But if these factors were at play in the first wave, they havent had the same effect in the second. One big factor that's important to the advancement of any defense technology is how much money a political leader can spend. Daniel J. Mitchell is a Washington-based economistwho specializes in fiscal policy, particularly tax reform, international tax competition, and the economic burden of government spending. Roma is the language of the people who used to be called Gypsies (The modern term for gypsies is "Roma."). In the early 2000s, the unemployment rate was about 10 percentage points higher in the former East than in the former West nearly five times the gap in 2018. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Copyright 2010-2018 Difference Between. Explore Eastern Europe. Why is the Eastern Europe Poorer than the Western Europe?There are many reasons, the main ones are : location (Western Europe discovered new lands, Eastern Europe faced nomads), religion, the ottomans and the communism. Bohemia and Hungary were also quite powerful, and only the Russian states could be considered poor. Most European countries (including Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium) if they joined the US, would rank among the poorest one-third of US states on a per-capita GDP basis, and the UK, France, Japan and New Zealand would all rank among Americas very poorest states, below No. Therefore, there are a lot of contradictions in this country. The GDP of Romania in year 2017 is $467 billion and PPP is approximately $25000. Religious: Eastern Europe is more religious than Western Europe.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'questionscity_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_8',114,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-questionscity_com-large-leaderboard-2-0'); Poorer: Eastern European countries are poorer than Western European countries. Love Sowell. None of this suggests that policy in America is ideal (it isnt) or that European nations are failures (they still rank among the wealthiest places on the planet). This is a somewhat more serious subreddit compared to many others. You have been on the Caltech faculty for more than 30 years. Answer (1 of 3): The main reason is the Atlantic conveyor. This set Russia back quite a bit in a number of ways. Great work Dr. Sowell. England in 1800 was the richest country in the world, but the population lived in terrible poverty), Easter Europe always got the brunt of the migrant waves for almost all of recorded history, it didn't really begin to stabilize until the 900s so it had some catching up to do. The capital of Romania is Bucharest, a city with approximately 1.8 million people. I understand why it looks that way but that's because of your perspective. Your email address will not be published. However, over the past 20 years, most of the nations of Eastern Europe have joined the . But a while ago I ran into this interesting post about the Romans in Eastern Europe: The Romans were mostly interested in conquering areas that had a high degree of self sufficiency which could provide a tax base for them to extract from. We live much more better than Latin America, the Middle East, Africa or India for 2.Why is Eastern Europe Poorer than Western Europe? As a quick caveat, its worth noting that theres not a one-to-one link between gross domestic product and actual living standards. Cases and deaths have not been spread evenly across the region. Central and East Europe were simply geographically unfortunate as wave after wave of immigrants and invaders moved through the region from China and were stopped before they made it into W Europe. It was politically weak, it was poor, and the major long-distance commerce was a slave trade led by Vikings. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. Eastern Europe Lives And Breathes History. Europe's economic crisis has thrown into relief the economic disparity between the Continent's richer, northern half and its poorer . Yes, their welfare states are too large, but they somewhat compensate for that mistake by having very pro-free market policies in other areas. Last Updated on March 19, 2022 by QCity Editorial Stuffif(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'questionscity_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_2',107,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-questionscity_com-medrectangle-3-0'); Foreigners visiting Europe often find themselves wondering what the differences are between Eastern and Western Europe. 9. What made you turn to the idea of gunpowder technology as an explanation? Christianity is the main religion in Eastern Europe. A head start in the first wave. It is followed by a brief description of the four major religions in the region. There is also easier access to mineral resources the further west you go in Europe, so more western regions would develop stronger economies when the Industrial Revolution upped the demand for those resources, while the minerals of the east weren't tapped until later. Great video. New research shows that this goes back about 1,000 years. The former East Germany trails the former West in productivity. Create a poster, chart, or some other type of graphic organizer that lists and briefly describes the major geographical features of Eastern Europe. A long line of horse-lords swept west from the steppe into eastern europe, and would generally displace the tribes living there - all the way up to the Mongols. We spoke with him recently about his research interests and what led him to study this particular topic. Being dominated for centuries has led to lingering inequality and long-lasting effects in many formerly colonized countries, including poverty and slow economic growth. I'm thinking the USSR isn't the reason why the non-Balkan east is poor, so from a wider historical perspective, what's the real reason? For that to happen, the countries have to be small and close to one another. the Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Turkey (western-most part). The difference is so stark that Eastern Europe is sometime not even counted as "Western Civilization." Communism explains some of it more recently, but it doesn't explain why it was also true in the medieval and ancient times. For most of the Middle Ages, the West was dirt poor, and the real money was in the east. 2. This is probably the biggest reason I prefer Eastern Europe over Western Europe. The key difference between Western and Eastern Europe is that Eastern Europe consists of countries that once belonged to the Soviet block, unlike the Western European countries. - Definition & Laws, What Is Medicare? Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Christianity History & Location | How Did Christianity Spread? However, the South Slavs themselves didn't have it easy, being subjugated by Franks, Bulgars and Byzantines, and later Magyars, Ottomans, Romanians, Austrians, Soviets, etc. 5. The head of the Orthodox faith is the Patriarch of Constantinople. Usually, when this question is asked, the response is that WWII and the Cold War ruined Eastern Europe, or that the agricultural and industrial revolutions began in Britain and not in Eastern Europe. Importantly, however, there have been major differences within eastern Europe too. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Before 1800, Europe had already taken over at least 35 percent of the world, but Britain was just beginning to industrialize. Western Europe: Western Europe is economically more advanced as well as prosperous.