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book2012

Why Nations Fail

Disciplines:
economics
political science
social science/institutions
economics/acemoglu robinson

Summary

Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson's 2012 argument that nations fail because of extractive economic and political institutions — and succeed when they develop inclusive institutions that distribute power broadly — contrasting with geographical, cultural, or leader-based explanations of development.

Core Contribution

Provides the institutional explanation of economic development — Why Nations Fail's central thesis (inclusive political institutions that distribute power lead to inclusive economic institutions that distribute opportunity) reframes development as fundamentally a political problem, not a technical one.

Historical Influences

Daron Acemoglu James Robinson

Intellectual Lineage

Daron Acemoglu James Robinson Crown Business

Allied Works

The Dictator's Handbook Guns Germs and Steel

Contemporaries & Peers

The Dictator's Handbook Guns Germs and Steel

Minds Influenced

Development economics Political economy History 102

Intellectual Posterity

Why Nations Fail Inclusive vs. extractive institutionsInstitutional theory of development

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