Edited by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson
Brilliant and engagingly written, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s “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?
The book 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 differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories.
Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at — and understand — the world.
