Editing Myanmar (section)

=== Economic history ===
[[File:Myingyan Railway Station 2.jpg|thumb|The trains are relatively slow in Myanmar. The railway trip from [[Bagan]] to [[Mandalay]] takes about 7.5 hours ({{convert|179|km|mi|abbr=on|disp=or}}).]]Under the [[British Empire|British]] administration, the people of Burma were at the bottom of the social hierarchy, with [[Europeans]] at the top, Indians, Chinese, and Christianized minorities in the middle, and Buddhist Burmese at the bottom.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last=Myint-U|first=Thant|title=The river of lost footsteps: histories of Burma|date=2006|publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]]|isbn=978-0-374-16342-6|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=65064707}}</ref> Forcefully integrated into the world economy, Burma's economy grew by involving itself with extractive industries and [[cash crop]] agriculture. However, much of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of Europeans. The country became the world's largest exporter of [[rice]], mainly to European markets, while other colonies like India suffered mass starvation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Davis|first=Mike|title=Late Victorian holocausts: El Niño famines and the making of the third world|date=2001|publisher=Verso|isbn=1-85984-739-0|location=London|oclc=45636958}}</ref> Being a follower of free market principles, the British opened up the country to large-scale immigration with Rangoon exceeding New York City as the greatest immigration port in the world in the 1920s. Historian [[Thant Myint-U]] states, "This was out of a total population of only 13 million; it was equivalent to the United Kingdom today taking 2 million people a year." By then, in most of Burma's largest cities, [[Rangoon]], [[Akyab]], [[Pathein|Bassein]] and [[Moulmein]], the Indian immigrants formed a majority of the population. The Burmese under British rule felt helpless, and reacted with a "racism that combined feelings of superiority and fear".<ref name=":0" />

Crude oil production, an indigenous industry of [[Yenangyaung]], was taken over by the British and put under [[Burmah Oil]] monopoly. British Burma began exporting crude oil in 1853.<ref>{{cite web|author=Total|title=Oil and Gas in Myanmar |url=http://burma.total.com/myanmar-en/oil-and-gas-in-myanmar/oil-and-gas-in-myanmar-900130.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415084151/http://burma.total.com/myanmar-en/oil-and-gas-in-myanmar/oil-and-gas-in-myanmar-900130.html|archive-date=15 April 2015}}</ref> European firms produced 75% of the world's teak.<ref name="steinberg" /> The wealth was, however, mainly concentrated in the hands of Europeans. In the 1930s, agricultural production fell dramatically as international rice prices declined and did not recover for several decades.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Booth, Anne|date=Spring 2003|title=The Burma Development Disaster in Comparative Historical Perspective|url=http://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/file64274.pdf|journal=SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research|volume=1|issue=1|issn=1479-8484|access-date=2 October 2012|archive-date=9 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809043455/http://www.soapy-massage.com/thai-soapy-massage-turkish-bath-house.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> During the Japanese invasion of Burma in World War II, the British followed a [[scorched earth]] policy. They destroyed major government buildings, oil wells and mines that developed for tungsten ([[Mawchi]]), tin, lead and silver to keep them from the Japanese. Myanmar was bombed extensively by the Allies.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

After independence, the country was in ruins with its major infrastructure completely destroyed. With the loss of India, Burma lost relevance and obtained independence from the British. After a parliamentary government was formed in 1948, Prime Minister [[U Nu]] embarked upon a policy of nationalisation and the state was declared the owner of all of the land in Burma. The government tried to implement an eight-year plan partly financed by injecting money into the economy, but this caused inflation to rise.<ref>{{cite web|last=Watkins|first=Thayer|title=Political and Economic History of Myanmar (Burma) Economics|url=http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/burma.htm|access-date=8 July 2006|publisher=San Jose State University|archive-date=26 May 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526144053/http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/burma.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[1962 Burmese coup d'état|1962 coup d'état]] was followed by an economic scheme called the [[Burmese Way to Socialism]], a plan to nationalise all industries, with the exception of [[agriculture]]. While the economy continued to grow at a slower rate, the country eschewed a Western-oriented development model, and by the 1980s, was left behind capitalist powerhouses like [[Singapore]] which were integrated with Western economies.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Taylor, Robert H.|title=General Ne Win : a political biography|date=25 May 2015|isbn=978-981-4620-13-0|location=Singapore|oclc=934623309}}</ref><ref name="ruin" /> Myanmar asked for admittance to a [[least developed country]] status in 1987 to receive debt relief.<ref>{{cite web|year=2005|title=List of Least Developed Countries|url=https://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/list.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026045553/http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/list.htm|archive-date=26 October 2013|publisher=UN-OHRLLS}}</ref>