Culture or Structure & Development

I just listened to several interviews with DACA young people on NPR. These young people were in every way extraordinary: motivation, knowledge, skills. Given what we know about the role of nature and nurture in shaping the lives of the young, the DACA students must have had parents who are as extraordinary as their offspring. Given this possibility, why aren't the countries from which they came as developed economically as the countries in which they seek their new homes. The answer cannot reside in the skills, talents, and motivations of the people, that is, in their culture. We must look elsewhere, like the qualities of their leaders, their economic policies, and the helpful or harmful economic policies of their trading nations.