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Why Nations Fail  By  cover art

Why Nations Fail

By: Daron Acemoglu,James A. Robinson
Narrated by: Dan Woren
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Publisher's summary

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 is 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2012 Daron Acemoglu (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"Why Nations Fail is a truly awesome book. Acemoglu and Robinson tackle one of the most important problems in the social sciences - a question that has bedeviled leading thinkers for centuries - and offer an answer that is brilliant in its simplicity and power. A wonderfully readable mix of history, political science, and economics, this book will change the way we think about economic development. Why Nations Fail is a must-read book." (Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics)

"You will have three reasons to love this book: It’s about national income differences within the modern world, perhaps the biggest problem facing the world today. It’s peppered with fascinating stories that will make you a spellbinder at cocktail parties - such as why Botswana is prospering and Sierra Leone isn’t. And it’s a great read. Like me, you may succumb to reading it in one go, and then you may come back to it again and again." (Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of the best sellers Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse)
"A compelling and highly readable book. And [the] conclusion is a cheering one: The authoritarian ‘extractive’ institutions like the ones that drive growth in China today are bound to run out of steam. Without the inclusive institutions that first evolved in the West, sustainable growth is impossible, because only a truly free society can foster genuine innovation and the creative destruction that is its corollary." (Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money)

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Prez Hoover spirit is alive and well.

The main thesis can be summed up as, if only underdeveloped countries "picked themselves up by their boot straps" they would be prosperous. It even goes into a shallow understanding of several geographic regions of the world unnecessarily. But the main thesis argues only those people in Egypt, the DRC and other countries and help themselves. It's not the fact that Egypt has been passed around by major world powers at least 4 times. Or the target of numerous terrorist groups. Nope, it because they have corrupt official that the people of the country allow.

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terrible book

What would have made Why Nations Fail better?

The author seems to have a view theory in mind and applies it all over the world trying to prove the correctness of his theory. The treatment is shallow and unscientific. The booking is very boring. I gained no insights or knowledge from this audio book.

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Cannot hold a candle to Jared Diamond's writing...

One good idea does not a 500 page book make. This should have been firmly edited to half its length. Poor narration didn't help.

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Will the Poor Always Be with Us?

In March Daron Acemoglu (Introduction to Economic Growth) and James Robinson (Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy) released their latest book, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. The duo initially present various theories explaining just why some countries prosper and others do not. The authors approach culture, the weather, geography and simple development ignorance. They then present a model which they contend best describes this economic behavior. They present historical examples from over hundreds of years to illustrate their basic points. The book is well over 500 pages so there may be more here than the general reader will want to digest. Sometimes the books seems to meander a little bit, but that is just a personal impression. Ultimately, this is a valuable book particularly in this election year. In sum Acemoglu and Robinson say its institutions stupid. I’ll not give the details of their message away, but it will make you pause if you are from the USA. The narration of Dan Woren is a plus.

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A Painful Listen

I would recommend the book, but not as an audio book. Why is it that readers assume we want a book read like a bad PBS skit just because it is a history book? Why nations fail is a well researched, interesting piece of work. Dan Woren reads it like a Mass in Latin, boring, monotone, painful. Please, please, please, find someone to read it that will not put me to sleep while I drive!

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Learned a lot with this book

Fantastic book on insights on nations history, economics and politics

Great insights on how nations fails from diverse perspectives

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Very interesting depiction to say the least

This manuscript. Of why nations fail. Is that very important way to look at things from the other side of history I recommend this to anybody who is interested.

Especially if you are a history, buff and interested in governmental novels or history about political institutions. It gives you a well-rounded perspective. Although for being written in 2012. It is not bad at all.

Furthermore, it is also a very good book if you are interested in national decline, history of nations and empires.

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Well thought out thesis

This book provides a much more convincing explanation of world inequality than past works like Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.

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The importance of the institutions

This book is a great read for whom appreciate freedom and prosperity. Freedom and Prosperity arguably is derived from separate institutions and devision of power.

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Overly simplistic thesis

Economic processes are inherently multifaceted. The authors contend that the three theories of poverty (attributing nations’ poverty to unfavorable geographic location, cultural impediments to growth, and Western inadequacy in transforming poor countries into rich ones) are entirely inconsequential. I disagree with this perspective, believing that there are likely multiple factors contributing to the wealth or poverty of nations. The assumption that only politics and political institutions determine a country’s status as ‘poor or prosperous’ is overly narrow. Although the authors support their ideas with numerous historical examples, these instances can sometimes be irrelevant and arbitrary.

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