Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail

by Ray Dalio

Before we do that, let’s review the specific items that help make a great empire. They are… … leadership that is strong enough and capable enough to provide the essential ingredients for success, which include… … strong education. By strong education I don’t just mean teaching knowledge and skills; I also mean teaching… … strong character, civility, and a strong work ethic, which are typically taught in the family as well as in school. These lead to improved civility that is reflected in factors such as… … low corruption and high respect for rules, such as the rule of law. … People being able to work well together, united behind a common view of how they should be together, is also important. When people have knowledge, skills, good character, and the civility to behave and work well together, and there is… … a good system for allocating resources, which is significantly improved by… … being open to the best global thinking, the country has the most important ingredients in order to succeed. That leads to it gaining… … greater competitiveness in global markets, which brings in revenues that are greater than expenses, which leads the country to have… … strong income growth, which allows it to make… … increased investments to improve infrastructure, education, and research and development, which lead it to have… … rapidly increasing productivity (more valuable output per hour worked). Increasing productivity is what increases wealth and productive capabilities. When the coun...