“"Brilliant and
engagingly written, " Why Nations Fail "answers the question that has
stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor,
divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? "Is
it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right
policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or
destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana
has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other
African nations, such as Zimbabwe,
the Congo, and Sierra Leone,
are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson
conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that
underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea,
to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous
nation, yet the people of North Korea
are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are
among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded
innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The
economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became
accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the
people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and
very different economic institutions--with no end in sight. The differences
between the Koreas
is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional
trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson
marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan
city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe,
the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with
great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an
authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and
overwhelm the West? - Are America's
best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by
elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and
empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move
billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy
from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of
Acemoglu and Robinson's breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive
political and economic institutions? "Why Nations Fail "will change
the way you look at--and understand--the world.”
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