The “standard of living” of any country means the average person’s share of the goods and services the country produces. A country’s standard of living, ___21___, depends first and
___22___ on its Capacity to produce wealth.“Wealth” in this sense is not money, for we do not live on money ___23___ on things that money can buy: “goods” such as food and clothing, and “services” such as transport and “___24___”.
A country’s capacity to produce wealth depends upon many factors, most of __25___ have an
effect on one another. Wealth depends ___26___ a great extent upon a country’s natural resources. Some regions of the world are well supplied with coal and minerals, and have a fertile soil and a ___27___ climate; other regions possess none of them.
Next to natural resources ___28___ the ability to turn them to use. China is perhaps as well ___29___ as the USA in natural resources, but suffered for many years from civil and ___30___ wars, and ___31___ this and other reasons was ___32___ to develop her resources. ___33___ and stable political conditions, and ___34___ from foreign invasion, enable a country to develop its natural resources peacefully and steadily, and to produce more wealth than another country equally well ___35___ by nature but less well ordered.
A country’s standard of living does not only depend upon the wealth that is produced and consumed ___36___ its own borders, but also upon what is indirectly produced through international trade. ___37___, Britain’s wealth in foodstuffs and other agricultural products would be much less if she had to depend only on ___38___ grown at home. Trade makes it possible for her surplus manufactured goods to be traded abroad for the agricultural products that would ___39___ be lacking. A country’s wealth is, therefore, much influenced by its manufacturing capacity, ___40___ that other countries can be found ready to accept its manufactures.