CHAPTER ONE

The Question

HOW IS WEALTH CREATED?

I SAT PERCHED on a small ledge, with my back pressed against a dung wall, in the smoky center room of a thatched hut belonging to an elderly Maasai tribesman. The hut was in a remote village in southwestern Kenya. The Maasai elder, with his wise, weather-beaten face and sharp eyes, had been asking me polite questions about my family and where I came from. Now he wanted to get the measure of me. He fixed his gaze on mine across the cooking fire and asked, “How many cattle do you own?” I paused for a moment and then quietly replied, “None.” A local Maasai teacher, who had befriended me and was acting ...

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