Neither lithium nor gas, the important thing is freedom and private property
By: Hugo Marcelo Balderrama - 24/09/2023
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Since the gas era came to an end, officials and opponents were placing their hopes in lithium, a resource concentrated in the Salar de Uyuni. However, the discovery of a volcano that could contain up to 120 million metric tons of lithium, which would exceed 12 times the amount of lithium in Bolivia, which was considered the largest lithium deposit in the world until this new discovery, and Its exploitation, moreover, could begin as early as 2026, has left some and others speechless.
The national political class has always been incapable of asking a basic question: can natural resources automatically lead countries to development and lift populations out of misery?
The answer is very simple, no. Now let's see the whys.
The reality is that, just as guano, saltpeter, rubber, tin or gas were at the time, lithium was just a new hollow promise, since the prosperity of nations does not depend on the resources they have in their possession. the soil, subsoil or in the mountains, but of the human capacity to create, what Professor Jesús Huerta de Soto calls: Business function. But the above requires institutional frameworks that respect economic freedom and property rights.
Given that resources are scarce in relation to needs, it is imperative to assign property rights in order to give them the best possible use at the discretion of those who buy or refrain from buying in the supermarket and equivalents. In that context, the one who makes the best use of his property is best serving the desires and preferences of his neighbor. In other words, each owner, in order to improve or maintain his property, must offer goods and services that please others. If he leaves his resources unexplored, or exploits them poorly, he will incur losses and the capital will be consumed. In the capitalist system, losses are as important as profits, since they allow the businessman to improve the quality of his goods, adapt more prudent investment behaviors and better understand the needs of the consumer.
In the absence of private property, for example, no one will sow for others to reap and so on, which is what produced the horrible famines in the new continent following the communist experiment of the first 102 settlers settled in Plymouth in what would later become the United States. Joined. Famines detailed in the famous report of Governor William Bradford (Of Plymouth Plantation), where the reasons why the idea of collective property was abandoned are clear. That change made the United States the nation with the greatest capacity for wealth creation in the history of humanity.
However, it is not necessary to travel that far back in time to see the harmful effects of the lack of private property. In the country, the collectivization of land had repercussions on the standard of living of Bolivian peasants, especially in the west of the country. For example, the 2021 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows that Bolivia has the third highest hunger index in the region. At the continental level, the country ranks 15th among 21 Latin American countries. This study indicates that Potosí and Chuquisaca are in a serious situation. Furthermore, there is inequality in access to food and lack of family income.
In conclusion, it is time to stop thinking about the next natural resource to exploit and start debating the true causes of the wealth of nations: freedom and property.
«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».