Books by James Robinson

“The really crucial point they make is that the sort of society we think we live in in a country like ours—which is stable, ordered and reasonably prosperous and, at the same time, gives genuine freedoms to people and associations—is incredibly fragile. It can never be taken for granted. Its imperfections must be dealt with to preserve its legitimacy, which is a theme of my book. But we also have to remember how dangerous change is because we can tip ourselves over into either the Leviathan or anarchy…I like the image of a narrow corridor as a way of thinking about how difficult the task of maintaining what many people in the contemporary world would think of as a civilized order is.” Read more...

The best books on Challenges Facing the World Economy

Martin Wolf, Economist

“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