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Nonfiction Books » Economics Books

Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson
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Why Nations Fail

by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson

Recommendations from our site

“The key to this book is really all in an early example in the text, where they cite the small town of Nogales on the Arizona-Mexico border. The border basically goes through the middle of the town: you can drive a cigarette paper through the differences between the people on the two sides of the border. They’re from similar families, they’re related, they have shared history and so on, but one of them is in North America, and the other is in Mexico. There are visible and quite stark contrasts in the standards of living and prosperity of people who live either side of the border. The question they ask is, how did this happen? This leads them to an issue which crops up in Ian Morris’s book as well, and I think is an absolutely essential factor to look at when we try to understand relative speeds and levels of economic development, which is the role of inclusive institutions.” Read more...

The best books on Emerging Markets

George Magnus, Economist

“Why Nations Fail is by two of my favourite economists, two very close friends and co-authors of mine, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. They’re tackling a subject that I’ve worked on with them, and they do a great job of bringing it to life and making it vivid. Why Nations Fail is one of those books that stretches your mind and gives you all these examples and connections between them, so that you come away from it saying, “Wow. I didn’t know that.” It’s really, really interesting.” Read more...

The best books on Why Economic History Matters

Simon Johnson, Economist

“In terms of understanding this top inequality, I mentioned the possibility that it might be about politics. How should we think about politics? What are the levers of politics? For that we need a conceptual framework and that’s what this book tries to provide. It’s co-authored with my long-term collaborator and friend Jim Robinson – and it’s not about US or UK or Canadian inequality. It runs through several thousand years of history, and tries to explain how societies work and why, often, they fail to generate prosperity for their citizens. It’s a very political story.” Read more...

The best books on Inequality

Daron Acemoglu, Economist

Other books by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson

The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson

Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity by Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson

Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity
by Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson

Introduction to Modern Economic Growth by Daron Acemoglu

Introduction to Modern Economic Growth
by Daron Acemoglu

Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson

Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson

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