At the LSF colloquium, Bauer argued that the world's poorest peoples were indigenous communities and 'Amazonian Indians', precisely because they enjoyed the fewest 'external contacts'. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, in contrast, offered proof of the economic benefits such 'contacts' brought. Elsewhere, Bauer claimed that not even the transatlantic slave trade could be claimed as a cause of 'African backwardness', as slavery had been endemic in Africa prior to the slave trade and was only ended by the West. 'Whatever one thinks of colonialism it can't be held responsible for Third World poverty', he concluded.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 401