"My own experience in the third world was that even if people started to make more money, the cost of living and housing increased often faster than the wages"
About this Quote
The subtext is a critique of development models that invite capital without protecting people from the inflationary aftershocks. As wages rise, land values rise; as markets expand, housing gets treated less like shelter and more like an asset class. The sentence frames that mechanism as almost automatic, “often faster,” implying a structural pattern rather than a fluke. It’s also a pointed rebuke to the way “third world” success is frequently narrated: a few new jobs, a few new malls, and then a congratulatory headline, while the monthly rent quietly doubles.
Contextually, this sits in a broader activist argument about inequality and policy design: wage growth matters, but so do rent controls, social housing, public services, and protections against speculative price spirals. Korten is really asking: what kind of development are we measuring, and who gets to keep the benefits when the cost of standing still keeps rising?
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Korten, David. (n.d.). My own experience in the third world was that even if people started to make more money, the cost of living and housing increased often faster than the wages. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-own-experience-in-the-third-world-was-that-141349/
Chicago Style
Korten, David. "My own experience in the third world was that even if people started to make more money, the cost of living and housing increased often faster than the wages." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-own-experience-in-the-third-world-was-that-141349/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My own experience in the third world was that even if people started to make more money, the cost of living and housing increased often faster than the wages." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-own-experience-in-the-third-world-was-that-141349/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
