What the U.S. Can Learn From Australia’s Coal Mines

July 12 (Bloomberg) -- America became great because ittransformed its vast natural resources -- Iowa farmland, Mesabiiron, Texas crude -- into human capital, equipped with skills tosucceed in the Information Age.

Now, when human capital is king, some look toward Texas andNorth Dakota and see natural-resource extraction as a path toeconomic rejuvenation. But if we look at Australia, the model ofa major mineral producer, we see that widespread prosperitycomes not from the stuff beneath the ground but from the stuffbetween our ears.