Diamonds for the poor

Spiegel (original in German): Botswana is the center of the global diamond trade: world market leader De Beers moved much of its business from London to Gaborone. The local government is involved in the gem sales - and thus financed houses and street lighting in the slums...

"Botswana is extremely good at it, the richness of the earth - the diamonds - to transform into wealth above ground, such as in education and human capital," said Rick van der Ploeg, Professor of Economics at Oxford University. Botswana is ethnically homogeneous than other states, and therefore less prone to the "resource curse".

"Basically, it is better to invest in an independent income funds," says van der Ploeg. "In many developing countries, however, there is a lack of capital, so it makes sense for countries to use the money for investment diamonds in the country."...