Historically, economic growth has proven to be civilization's most effective weapon against poverty. Capitalist institutions – competitive markets, buttressed by private property rights guaranteed by the rule of law – provided extremely powerful incentives for a continuous flow of innovation and entrepreneurship that fueled the growth of production. Regardless of resource endowments, culture, or other characteristics, countries that have adopted the key institutions of capitalism have experienced the highest levels of economic growth and seen the greatest improvements in citizens' living standards. By contrast, those who failed to establish capitalist institutions created little wealth and suffered the frustration of stagnating per capita incomes or, as in much of Africa, a slide into an ever-worsening situation.