Once we get down to the thirty-five least capitalist nations, average income has dropped to but $3,900 per year. And because rates of economic growth are also higher in more capitalist nations, the differences in income between the most and least capitalist nations are growing over time. 1 Of course, this is a chapter about poverty, and the average income in a nation may bear little relation to the income earned by its poorest residents.

It is convenient for our purposes to divide all the nations in the world into five groups, ranging from “most capitalist” to “least capitalist.” Data limitations prevent doing this with every single nation. Nevertheless, it is possible to do it for about 140 of them, putting 35 nations into each of the four groups.