Figure 1.--Bengal wa in ancient times and as late as the 18th century one of the richest provinces in the world. Today it is among the poorest. This is not because Bengal has changes. In fact Benghali farmers are now somewhat more productive. The declibe of the Bengal economy is fue to changes in the rest of the world--industrialization. Workers around the world are far more prodictibe than ever before and farmers are also more productive--far more productive. This and failed ecomomic policies have left Bangkadesh and many other countries who have failed to adopt capitalist free market economic systems mired in abject poverty. The photo shows a mother with her children in a slum of Dhaka during 2007.
Bangladesh is today one of the poorest countries in the world. Interestingly This was not the case not only in ancuent times, but as recently as the 18th centyry. When the Europeans first arrived in India (16th century) it was one of the richest ecomoes on earth. The Mugal Empire was a center of emense manufactured and was rival in power only by the Ming Empire in China. The economy as with other countries was still based on agriculture. And the richest part of the Mughal Empire even as it declined was Beghal. [Dalrymple, p. xxvi-iii.] It is not that the farmers of Benghal have become less productiv. The land and climate that made Nenghal so productive still exist. What has changed is technology. Industrial advances have nean that natural resources and lamd productibity no longer are central in economic productivity. The majority of the Bengali populatiom till work in agriculture. Some progress has been made increasing harvests. Income is very low, largely because of the many small land holdings. The service industries have been expanding and now account for over half of the country's GDP. The poverty is largely attributed to weak institutions, poverty, and too much government involvement in the economy, make extensive corruption possible. This all makes economic development difficult as well as fueling social and political unrest. Interestingly while Islamists commonly demonstrate against the West on which they blame the country's emense difficulties. Bangladesh receives relatively large inflows of remittances from foreign countries where people have emigrated to for jobs, primarily to the Middle Eastern oil countries. Remitences from the United States alone amount to about $100 million annually. Islamist groups threaten Bangladesh's fragile democracy and pluralist traditions inherited from the British Raj. The current government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, is attempting to curtail Islamicist influences. The economy of neigboring India hasbeen thrust forward by market (socialist) reforms. The same has not yet occurred in Bangladesh.
