Why Nations Fail

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations

Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for

centuries: Why are somme 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 econonmic 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 betweern the Koreas

is due to the politics that created these completely different

institutional trajectories.