What Makes a State Productive?

If you're totalitarian and you won't update your system and adjust it, then it wears out and grinds to a halt. A functional legal system is also a natural resource of tremendous, tremendous value. Japan has virtually no natural resources at all, and it's really rich. The king already knows everything. So why does he need this stupid bird flying around telling him what's going on? I mean, god, you gave that guy bad news or good news, he was to have you killed. It kept the bad news to a minimum. And so that's the situation here. Well, his little minions, the hyenas, are getting pretty unhappy cause they haven't had anything