How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

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T
raditionally islanders drew their drinking water from 
the mountain streams and carried it to their huts in 
whatever vessel they could fashion.
As a result, most people didn’t live or work very far from 
the water supply. Poor access to water also made farming 
very diffi cult. These realities limited the island’s overall 
productivity. 
One year, a terrible drought descended and dried up 
many of the mountain streams. The hardship just about 
wiped everybody out.
The islanders searched for a solution that could prevent 
such a calamity in the future. 
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