Why Nations Fail
by Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
RevolutionsEconomic developmentEconomicsSocial policyPoverty
3.7
Open LibraryAbout this book
Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, or geography that determines prosperity or poverty? As *Why Nations Fail* shows, none of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Drawing on fifteen years of original research, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is our man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or the lack of it). Korea, to take just one example, 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 differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created those two different institutional trajectories. Acemoglu and Robinson marshal extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, among them: Will China's economy continue to grow at such a high speed and ultimately overwhelm the West? Are America's best days behind it? Are we creating a vicious cycle that enriches and empowers a small minority?
Themes & subjects
RevolutionsEconomic developmentEconomicsSocial policyPovertyEconomic policy
Characters & people
Setting
Developing countries
About the authors
Daron Acemoglu
2 Sep 1967
Kamer Daron Acemoğlu (born September 3, 1967) is a Turkish-born American economist who has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 1993. He is currently the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT. He was named Institute Professor in 2019. **Source**: [Daron Acemoglu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daron_Acemoglu) on Wikipedia.
James A. Robinson
1960
James Alan Robinson (born 1960) is a British economist and political scientist. He is currently the Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies and University Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago. He also serves as the Institute Director of The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts at the Harris School. Robinson has previously taught at Harvard University between 2004 and 2015 and also at the University of California, Berkeley, University of Southern California and the University of Melbourne. He studies what makes countries different by focusing on the underlying economic and political institutions th…
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