13 Aug Externalities vs Potentialities

When I was 12 years old in school in Brooklyn, New York, one day in geography class, the teacher explained that many countries with a low standard of living are today referred to as “underdeveloped”, but years ago were referred to as “backward” which is pejorative.

This distinction seemed to confuse one of the girls in class who blurted out: “Those countries are strange, I’d rather be called backward than underdeveloped.”

To some, externalities are more important than potentialities.