Why Did the U.S. Get Rich While Latin America Stayed Poor?

Step across the U.S.–Mexico border and the legal minimum wage drops from $17.75 an hour to about $23 a day. Yet by the best estimates, 350 years ago colonial Mexico was richer per person than the English colonies up north. So what happened? From the silver mountain of Potosí to the Homestead Act, Santa Anna, railroads, guano, oil, coups and the debt crisis — the decisions that built the gap between the two Americas. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 The puzzle of two Americas 2:04 1. When the future wasn't obvious 4:16 2. The mountain that produced a fortune 8:01 3. Two different colonial systems 11:06 4. Who owned the land? 13:40 5. Independence didn't guarantee prosperity 16:52 6. Industrialization changes the game 19:12 7. The cost of depending on commodities 21:26 8. The twentieth-century divide 23:59 9. Why the gap persists 25:24 10. The story isn't over 📼 History Cassette — press play on the past. 🔔 Subscribe:    / @historycassette   Sources: Maddison Project Database 2023; World Bank; Engerman & Sokoloff (2002); Acemoglu, Johnson & Robinson (2002); Dell (2010); USGS; U.S. Census; National Park Service. Full list in the pinned comment. Historical borders: historical-basemaps by A. Ourednik. #history #latinamerica #historycassette