Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (US)

ISBN: 9780307719225
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Publisher,Crown Business
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Format, Paperback
Weight, 510 g
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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.

Customer Reviews

Based on 9 reviews
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M
Maxtone Andres

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

P
Pauzi Yaman

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

C
Cik Echa
Insightful

the book is really informative and gives much greater insights about the existing inequality and poverty in the world by taking us going through the history of each culture and society.

L
Lussi Abraham
A good Read

The authors of this book take an entirely different approach. Their arguments are primarily ones which are based on economical and political institutions . They firmly reject that there are arguments that the reasons nations fail are due to geographic, cultural or ignorance. But they do recognize that all have one thing in common and that the rule is by a narrow elite whose main focus is on maintaining and/or expanding their own interests at the expense of the rest of the population which they govern.

D
Dya
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

This book, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, gives its version of answers on why some nations fail while other rise and become wealthy and prosperous. The thesis made by the authors is very direct and simple, nations with inclusive political and economic institutions become successful and flourish while nations with extractive political and economic institution fail and take its members into hardship. Highly recommended.