Amit's Blog

Divergent Paths: Comparing Mexico, Texas, and California Over 200 Years Prelude In 1821, Mexico, Texas, and California shared a single flag under the newly independent Mexican Empire. Two centuries later, their divergence is one of the starkest in modern economic history: California and Texas rank among the world’s top ten economies if considered sovereign nations, while Mexico remains a middle-income country. What began as a common starting point ended in radically different trajectories shaped by institutions, geography, political stability, resource management, human capital investment, and immigration patterns. Mexico inherited Spain’s extractive colonial framework, struggled with chronic instability, and faced geographic barriers to integration. Texas leveraged independence, U.S. annexation, oil wealth, and business-friendly policies to build a diversified powerhouse. California capitalized on the Gold Rush, federal investment, Pacific trade, and innovation ecosystems to bec...

The Forked Path: Why Brazil Stumbled While the United States Soared Brazil and the United States, born from colonial roots with shared traits—indigenous displacement, enslaved labor, and agrarian economies—diverged dramatically by the 20th century. The U.S. emerged as an industrial and financial titan, while Brazil languished in economic dependency and inequality. This essay dissects the institutional, economic, social, political, cultural, and global factors behind this divergence. The U.S. capitalized on inclusive institutions, British financial models, and early industrialization, while Brazil’s extractive systems, Portuguese legacy, and elite resistance stalled progress. Cultural differences—Protestant dynamism versus Catholic conservatism—interacted with geography, leadership, and global timing to widen the gap. Despite global connectivity, Brazil failed to emulate successful models due to entrenched hierarchies and weak intellectual capacity. By exploring these dimensions, incl...