Why Nations Fail
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| Authors | Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson |
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| Country | United States, Turkey |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Comparative Politics |
| Genre | Nonfiction |
| Publisher | Crown Business |
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Publication date
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March 20, 2012 |
| Media type | Hardcover, Audiobook, Amazon Kindle |
| Pages | 546 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 729065001 |
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, first published in 2012, is a non-fiction book by Turkish-American economist Daron Acemoglu from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and British political scientist James A. Robinson from the University of Chicago.
The book applies insights from institutional economics, development economics and economic history to understand why nations develop differently, with some succeeding in the accumulation of power and prosperity and others failing, via a wide range of historical case studies.
The authors also maintain a website (with a blog inactive since 2014) about the ongoing discussion of the book.
In fifteen chapters, Acemoglu and Robinson try to examine which factors are responsible for the political and economical success or failure of states. They argue that the existing explanations about the emergence of prosperity and poverty, e.g. geography, climate, culture, religion, or the ignorance of political leaders are either insufficient or defective in explaining it.
Acemolgu and Robinson support their thesis by comparing country case studies. They identify countries that are similar in many of the above-mentioned factors, but because of different political and institutional choices become more or less prosperous. The most incisive example is Korea, which was divided into North Korea and South Korea in 1953. Both countries’ economies have diverged completely, with South Korea becoming one of the richest countries in Asia while North Korea remains among the poorest. Further examples include the border cities Nogales (Sonora, Mexico) and Nogales (Arizona, USA). By referencing border cities, the authors analyze the impact of the institutional environment on the prosperity of people from the same geographical area and same culture.
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