Is A World Full Of Developed Economies Possible, Or Are Developed Nations Stopping That From Happening?

In the west, our consumerist and capitalist societies are often the source of many problems in the world economy. We desire too much, and we desire it all at a price point far too low.With outsourcing of manufacturing and cheap foreign wages we can achieve our goals, but what happens when the cheap labor runs out? In many of our lifetimes, manufacturing has moved from country to country as the cost of labor becomes higher and it no longer makes sense for a company to stay in a certain country. After, the company leaves and the country it used to manufacture in starts to have future growth stop. If we eventually are able to get to a point where all economies become fully developed first world economies, life for mankind would be easier. However is this really what first world western nations want?

If all countries were developed, it would almost definitely mean that countries in the undeveloped world with massive potential would grab a much larger piece of the world economy’s pie. I believe even if it raises the well being of all humans, countries that are currently in the lead of development want to stop it from happening. In my opinion outsourcing manufacturing to extremely cheap labor, is keeping a country from developing further. Countries aren’t directly making the decisions to outsource, but our companies are, and in a weird way our companies are an extension of our country. Rather than nations moving towards self sufficiency , we are seeing a larger amount of them catering to extremely low wages. If we look at China for example, minimum wage has been brought up multiple times but it is always shutdown because if China instituted minimum wage, overnight they would lose a large portion of companies that choose to manufacture there. In a way I think it is a form of, what I like to call, Capitalist Imperialism that is taking place. By exploiting cheap labor and putting pressure on governments to choose options which are not in their citizens best interest, we are keeping them relatively undeveloped. Because we can not control them like we used to control our colonies, we use what we have available which is to control them by impacting their economies.

Although there have been some success stories of countries that had foreign investment and started large manufacturing infrastructures, most of them were owned by their own companies. This is not the same with what is going on today and even with the countries that became success stories, manufacturing heavy economies that try to raise the quality of life are starting to see shrinkage in what they bring in. Companies, no matter what country they come from will always seek out the cheapest labor and costs, so this shrinkage we are seeing is near impossible to avoid. So I ask a question, is a world with all developed countries even possible?

There are only so many jobs that can be done by fully developed countries, unless a massive paradigm shift takes place, for example, completely self sufficient countries. In an international world we all must rely on each other for trade and prosperity, but companies and governments are taking advantage of the underdeveloped. This is how the free market should operate but also, it crushes any hopes of certain economies getting past a certain point.

Eventually they will hit a point where more manufacturing won’t make them anymore money, and there are not enough people trained in jobs that make economies developed. Specialization of products is probably the best route, but even in that case, we have seen many countries face competition which has hurt their economies past the point of no return. I just don’t currently see a fully developed world happening without a massive shock and redistribution of wealth within the global economies.

Western companies will always use the cheapest option available to them which often means exploiting new sources of labor over and over again until robotics gets to a point where it is cheaper than human labor. If this current pattern continues, economies which choose manufacturing for foreign companies will continue to grow and shrink, never becoming a mainstream developed economy. Even if we create a basic manufacturing infrastructure to a country when we build factories and use their labor, without specialization of their own products the world wants the economies wont grow past a point. Let me know if you think a world full of totally developed economies is possible and how it could happen.

-Calaber24p