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Lately, the third world has been on my mind lately. I've started to feel deep sympathy for those living in third-world conditions. I always had hope that, somehow, those conditions would be improved. I've felt very positive about this as I've seen third-world countries become more developed as education has become widely available in third world countries.

I began having doubts when my girlfriend, Sarah, asked me about a concept known as dependency theory for her œconomics class. So, I looked into the topic. Dependency theory states that the quality of life that exists in first-world nations is dependent on poorer nations in order to remain wealthy. Today, as third-world nations are becoming more sucessful and technologically advanced, œconomists have considered this theory to be baseless. However, this theory might not necessarily apply to just nations; could this principle also apply to people? The basic question is this: when we buy something, does someone, somewhere down the line, get the shaft?

Take this example: a serving of coffee at my workplace costs $1.40. That is practically affordable for most Americans. However, the farmers who grow the coffee only get two percent of that price.¹ If coffee became more expensive, would Americans buy it? What happens to the coffee industry if products don't sell? So, it seems that raising the price of coffee to give the farmers more money for their efforts would result in less money for the farmers.

My solution? I have none. I'm clueless about how to solve this. I'm starting to see œconomics as a zero-sum game. In other words, when you take the benefit that first-world nations gain and subtract the benefit that third-world nations loose, the result is zero. Communism promises to be a solution in which everyone is paid the same for their efforts, but communism is shown to be equal distribution of suffering where capitalism is unequal distribution of wealth. The way that I see it: we're screwed. Hopefully, I'm seeing it wrong. I hope that there is some principle that I'm overlooking or not paying attention to.

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1. http://www.maketradefair.com/en/index.php?file=coffee_chain06.htm