Can These Six Killer Apps Fix South Africa's Inequality?

Naill Ferguson reckons the developing world can use these apps to improve economic development.

The world is currently seeing a massive rebalancing of economic power. The gap between the West (read the US and Europe) and the South/East (the rest) has started to close and this phenomenon brings an end to nearly five centuries of Western dominance.

The economic historian Niall Ferguson recently labelled this re-convergence of economic power as the greatest event of our lifetimes. This divergence started in the early 1500s and having climaxed in the late 1970s, it has started to rescind with the rise of developing countries, most notably China.

In an excellent TED lecture, the charismatic Ferguson identified six “killer apps” that caused the Great Divergence and set the West apart from the East, and which is now also driving the emergence of a very strong developing world.

The apps are six broad ideas that emerged in Western culture that promote innovation, stability and wealth. The most important development, according to Ferguson is that these apps are open source and therefore free to download. It is also clear that many countries in the East have downloaded these apps...