Ten years Matthew effect for countries

Summary

Actually the Matthew effect for countries (MEC) was discovered at Holy Eve 1994. Since then more than 30 papers of mine - many of them together with Andrea Scharnhorst and Eberhard Bruckner - appeared in journals or were read at conferences of international and national scientific societies. It is not the task of this paper to present a bibliometric analysis of those paper’s impact, nor to give any detailed historical description of the surprising findings following the discovery, I’d rather try to unfold - from the heightened standpoint of our days - a new summary of the Matthew phenomenon, because I am convinced it will not lose its fascination and importance in the years to come.