Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson
Presentation copy inscribed, dated and signed by both authors on the front free end paper thus: "To my dear friend the very wise man George Salib* (*more likely to be George Saliba, the American historian and professor) 1997 (not sure where this date comes from as this edition was published in 2012) Daron & James 1997 (ditto); 2012 1st ed/2nd printing published by Crown Business USA, 529pp., deckle-edged text in acceptable condition with browning to pages - along with a slight perfumey odour - & a large crease through page 9 (see third scan), slight browning & staining/"dustiness" to the page extremities at the very top, slight browning/rubbing/creasing to the deckle edges at the side & some rubbing/creasing/staining to the page extremities at the very bottom, spine slightly cocked & boards slightly warped, bumping & rubbing to board corners, to the top, bottom & sides of boards & top of the spine, very heavy bumping & rubbing to the base of the spine including some staining & tiny splits, some browning & staining to both boards & some bumping to the spine, heavy bumping & rubbing to the front bottom left hand/rear bottom right hand corners, some bumping to spine edge on the rear, the dust jacket is worn, stained & marked. Book = acceptable+; jacket = fair.
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 are due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories.
Based on 15 years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:
- China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?
- Are America's best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?
- What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson's breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions?
Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at - and understand - the world.
Will ship by Royal Mail 1st Class Signed for, well packaged.
(£5.99/neben/hes)