A provocative bestseller that explains why the world is divided into nations with wildly differing levels of prosperity
Daron Acemoglu is the Killian Professor of Economics at MIT and
recipient of the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal.
James A. Robinson is a political scientist and economist and the
David Florence Professor of Government at Harvard University, and a
world-renowned expert on Latin America and Africa.
They are the authors of Economic Origins of Dictatorship and
Democracy, which won numerous prizes.
A must-read. Acemoglu and Robinson are intellectual heavyweights of
the first rank
*Guardian*
An important book
*New York Times*
An intellectually rich book that develops an important thesis with
verve
*FT*
It's a great read. Like me, you may succumb to reading it in one
go, and then you may come back to it again and again.
*Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-prize-winning author*
A must-read. Acemoglu and Robinson are intellectual heavyweights of
the first rank ... they have done you the courtesy of writing a
book that while at the intellectual cutting edge is not just
readable but engrossing ... erudite and fascinating.
*Observer*
For those who think that a nation's economic fate is determined by
geography or culture, Daron Acemoglu and Jim Robinson have bad
news. It's man-made institutions, not the lay of the land or the
faith of our forefathers, that determine whether a country is rich
or poor. Synthesizing brilliantly the work of theorists from Adam
Smith to Douglass North with more recent empirical research by
economic historians, Acemoglu and Robinson have produced a
compelling and highly readable book. And their conclusion is a
cheering one: the authoritarian "extractive" institutions like the
one's that drive growth in China today are bound to run out of
steam. Without the inclusive institutions that first evolved in the
West, sustainable growth is impossible, because only a truly free
society can foster genuine innovation and the creative destruction
that is its corollary.
*Niall Ferguson, author of 'The Ascent of Money'*
This fascinating and readable book centers on the complex joint
evolution of political and economic institutions, in good
directions and bad. It strikes a delicate balance between the logic
of political and economic behavior and the shifts in direction
created by contingent historical events, large and small at
'critical junctures'. Acemoglu and Robinson provide an enormous
range of historical examples to show how such shifts can tilt
toward favorable institutions, progressive innovation and economic
success or toward repressive institutions and eventual decay or
stagnation. Somehow they can generate both excitement and
reflection.
*Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate in Economics*
It's the politics, stupid! That is Acemoglu and Robinson's simple
yet compelling explanation for why so many countries fail to
develop. From the absolutism of the Stuarts to the antebellum
South, from Sierra Leone to Colombia, this magisterial work shows
how powerful elites rig the rules to benefit themselves at the
expense of the many. Charting a careful course between the
pessimists and optimists, the authors demonstrate history and
geography need not be destiny. But they also document how sensible
economic ideas and policies often achieve little in the absence of
fundamental political change.
*Dani Rodrik, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
Universitry*
Two of the world's best and most erudite economists turn to the
hardest issue of all: why are some nations poor and others rich?
Written with a deep knowledge of economics and political history,
this is perhaps the most powerful statement made to date that
'institutions matter.' A provocative, instructive, yet thoroughly
enthralling book.
*Joel Mokyr, Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences and
Professor of Economics and History, Northwestern University*
Imagine sitting around a table listening to Jared Diamond, Joseph
Schumpeter, and James Madison reflect on over two thousand years of
political and economic history. Imagine that they weave their ideas
into a coherent theoretical framework based on limiting extraction,
promoting creative destruction, and creating strong political
institutions that share power and you begin to see the contribution
of this brilliant and engagingly written book.
*Scott E. Page, University of Michigan and Santa Fre Institute*
In this stunningly wide ranging book Acemoglu and Robinson ask a
simple but vital question, why do some nations become rich and
others remain poor? Their answer is also simple -- because some
polities develop more inclusive political institutions. What is
remarkable about the book is the crispness and clarity of the
writing, the elegance of the argument, and the remarkable richness
of historical detail. This book is a must read at a moment where
governments right across the western world must come up with the
political will to deal with a debt crisis of unusual
proportions.
*Steve Pincus, Bradford Durfee Professor of History and
International and Area Studies, Yale University*
Acemoglu and Robinson -- two of the world's leading experts on
development -- explain why it is not geography, disease, or culture
which explains why some nations are rich and some poor, but rather
a matter of institutions and politics. This highly accessible book
provides welcome insight to specialists and general readers
alike.
*Francis Fukuyama*
Some time ago a little known Scottish philosopher wrote a book on
what makes nations succeed and what makes them fail. The Wealth of
Nations is still being read today. With the same perspicacity and
with the same broad historical perspective, Daron Acemoglu and
James Robinson have re-tackled this same question for our own
times. Two centuries from now our great-great-...-great
grandchildren will be, similarly, reading Why Nations Fail.
*George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001*
Acemoglu and Robinson have made an important contribution to the
debate as to why similar-looking nations differ so greatly in their
economic and political development. Through a broad multiplicity of
historical examples, they show how institutional developments,
sometimes based on very accidental circumstances, have had enormous
consequences. The openness of a society, its willingness to permit
creative destruction, and the rule of appear to be decisive for
economic development.
*Kenneth J. Arrow*
This not only a fascinating and interesting book: it is a really
important one. The highly original research that Professors
Acemoglu and Robinson have done, and continue to do, on how
economic forces, politics and policy choices evolve together and
constrain each other, and how institutions affect that evolution,
is essential to understanding the successes and failures of
societies and nations. And here, in this book, these insights come
in a highly accessible, indeed riveting form. Those who pick this
book up and start reading will have trouble putting it down.
*Michael Spence*
Why Nations Fail is a truly awesome book. Acemoglu and Robinson
tackle one of the most important
problems in the social sciences -- a question that has bedeviled
leading thinkers for centuries -- and offer an answer that is
brilliant in its simplicity and power. A wonderfully readable mix
of history, political science, and economics, this book will change
the way we think about economic development. Why Nations Fail is a
must read book.
*Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics*
Why Nations Fail is so good in so many ways that I despair of
listing them all. It is an excellent book and should be purchased
forthwith, so to encourage the authors to keep working.
*Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and 1493*
In this delightfully readable romp through 400 years of history,
two of the giants of contemporary social science bring us an
inspiring and important message: it is freedom that makes the world
rich. Let tyrants everywhere tremble!
*Ian Morris, Stanford University, author of Why the West Rules -
For Now*
The authors convincingly show that countries escape poverty only
when they have appropriate economic institutions, especially
private property and competition. More originally, they argue
countries are more likely to develop the right institiutions when
they have an open pluralistic political system with competition for
political office, a widespread electorate, and openness to new
politcial leaders. This intimate connection between political and
economic institutions is the heart of their major contribution, and
has resulted in a study of great vitality on one of the crucial
questions in economics and political economy.
*Gary S. Becker, Nobel laureate in economics, 1992*
This important and insightful book, packed with historical
examples, makes the case that inclusive political institiutions in
support of inclusive economic institutions iskey to sustained
prosperity. The book reviews how some good regimes got launched and
then had a virtuous spiral, while bad regimes remain in a vicious
spiral. This is important analysis not to be missed.
*Peter Diamond, Nobel laureate in economics, 2010*
A brilliant and uplifting book -- yet also a deeply disturbing
wake-up call. Acemoglu and Robinson lay out a convincing theory of
almost everything to do with economic development. Countries rise
when they put in place the right pro-growth political institutions
and they fail-often spectacularly-when those instituitons ossify or
fail to adapt. Powerful people always and everywhere seek to grab
complete control over government, undermining broader social
progress for their own greed. Keep those people in check with
effective democracy or watch your nation fail.
*Simon Johnson, co-author of 13 Bankers and professor at MIT
Sloan*
a fascinating bit of scholarship that is laden with lots of
interesting historical detail
*Sunday Business Post*
A must-read that makes sense of recent upheavals
*Money Week*
An intellectually rich book that develops an important thesis with
verve. It should be widely read.
*FT*
A vital work for these times
*Wall Street Journal*
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