The Middle Income Trap and the Politics of Skills

What do Brazil, Thailand, Mexico, Turkey and South Africa have in common? They're all so-called "middle-income countries", but they seem to be stuck with that label. Since the mid-2000's, economists have been paying increasing attention to this category, and what's now known as the Middle-Income Trap, especially in southeast Asia and Latin America. With globalization and open markets, we all just assume that middle-income countries are going to become high-income countries. Richard Doner from Emory University, Ben Ross Schneider from MIT, and the Watson Institute's Richard Snyder - all of them political scientists, are here today to look at divisions in societies that undermine this push toward development. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LxZtcVD22Ee6UGXikkmg85hZzmwZ-Sed/view?usp=sharing]