Why Nations Fail

The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

Narrated by: Dan Woren

Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins

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)

Essential reading

I do not say this often but this book is a must read. The authors go over the more recent history of civilization, that post the dark ages of Europe and tackle the important question of why certain nations in Europe in particular and the world in general ended up prosperous. The key, they say, is having an appetite for creative destruction. Whenever one group becomes too powerful, they start molding political institutions so that their financial means are secure, at the cost of innovation. The authors say that the way to achieve this is via inclusive institutions like democracy.

I considered docking a point for what I consider a lack of scholarship and intellectual integrity in this book. I found their critique of Guns Germs and steel and Why the west rules for now very lacking. Instead of realising that those books fundamentally talk about different time periods, and that some factors are stronger than other factors under different contexts, their argument against those books are quite facetious and makes me doubt that they even read those books. Similarly, they champion inclusive institutions a little too hard in this book. In many of their examples, there were obvious other factors which should have been stronger than their thesis, they handwave around instead of tackling the issue head on. This work is lacking in sincere scholarship, which is quite disappointing.

Must Read

Every Econ or PoliSci student should read this book. They present their theory in great detail.

Mandatory reading for those haunted by the questio

The book while obviously academic in back ground; yet smoothly layout the premise in simple language with no expectations of prior poltical or economic background, highlighting intriguing historical context and parallels that motivates the underlying premise of the book. So much so that the reader will be able to interpret her or his surrounding (be it in an under developed nation or otherwise prosperous) and appreciate the forces at play behind its current state of affairs

A bit dry but extremely important

Politics are becoming increasingly chaotic. This book is pivotal in understanding why certain institutions fail and others succeed. We must not make the mistakes other nations have and lose sight of what made successful countries successful. Though this book is a bit dry at times, mostly in the middle, at the very least you should read/listen to the first few and last few chapters if you want to even remotely think about politics.

The West was lucky

The book explains in a very interesting way why it is so difficult to change the course of history of a society or country. It explains how the West was lucky to break free from the standard of history - oppressive and exploitative regimes. And tells you that you should not expect that an authoritative place will change for the just because there was a popular revolution or successful invasion.

would highly recommend.

ideal for those who want to understand the news they see on Twitter and Facebook.

What are the ingredients for a successful society?

This is one of the best attempts to answer what are the causes behind a successful nation and society. Its an excellent ode to democracy, equality and free speech. Nothing is guaranteed.

Excellent

I enjoyed listening to my first audible book. It was outstanding and I would recommend it to my friends and family. The book reading was over 17 hours so it took a long time to listen to the whole book. I find this subject matter very interesting.

Exhaustive and Enlightening

this is a book that throws emphasis on the kinds of politics that guarantees peace and progressive economics.

it gave general analysis on why some nations fail and others succeed and some nations that succeeded in time past are failing currently.

this is a good book to read about the economics of first world and third world nations. the reader is encouraged to read, Daniel Yergin's "Commanding Heights" and Thomas Sowell's, "Wealth Poverty and Politics"

a good read. it requires interest to start, patience and consistency to finish.

my favourite story was the bubonic plague story

More time spent on solutions

Very good narrative on providing different examples around the key theme but I wish the authors had spent a bigger part on what can be done nowadays to course-correct.