Glad you wrote this, Taru, but you forgot a very important element: political structures.

The hardest political structure is found in South-America: Proportional Voting and an Empowered President. It does not mean that it cannot be done well, but particularly the Empowered President can yank the entire game in one direction.

I don't want to use the word corruption, because it is often legitimate yanking, but yanking it is nevertheless.

I did some comparative research on political systems and their outcomes in 2006, and the Proportional Voting plus a strong President system often (not always) delivered bad outcomes just like winner-take-all democracies often (not always) deliver bad outcomes for a good part of their population at the bottom of society (think bottom 15 to 30%).

In Europe, while there are democracies with Presidents, sometimes with actual power, most countries are based on their Houses. The power is associated with either one House (Scandinavian countries) or two Houses (all others). Hardly ever is a President in control (and that is why we hate Putin, right?).

In South America you won't find that European model. They do not trust themselves, and like in a good war, we better have a single general to decide the strategies for us.

Yet like a good peace, the general will stand in the way of delivering the goods to all in the nation.

A great piece, Taru, but the political reality is of utmost importance.

• I still feel a bit upset that Egypt picked the South-American version of democracy during the Arab Spring. It is an almost impossible system. They were doing quite well until they voted in a President.

My prediction: South-American nations will rise so much in socioeconomic perspective once they throw out their presidencies. Many folks don’t know any better and have the wool over their eyes right now; they don't see they have a wolf in their midst that is actually eating parts of their economic well being.

And yes, I hope the Sur will get off the ground, because it will deliver stability, if indeed they follow the European model (which is the German model) of making that central bank be truly and totally independent. Right now, these presidents cannot let that happen because they are the presidents. They have to go away for South-America to become a better continent for all.