Why Nations Fail

The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

Narrated by: Dan Woren

NEW YORK TIMES AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER • From two winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, “who have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity”

“A wildly ambitious work that hopscotches through history and around the world to answer the very big question of why some countries get rich and others don’t.”—The New York Times

FINALIST: Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Financial Times, The Economist, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg, The Christian Science Monitor, The Plain Dealer

Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, or geography that determines prosperity or poverty? As Why Nations Failshows, none of these factors is either definitive or destiny.

Drawing on fifteen years of original research, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is our man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or the lack of it). Korea, to take just one example, is a remarkably homogenous 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 differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created those two different institutional trajectories. Acemoglu and Robinson marshal extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, among them:

• Will China’s economy continue to grow at such a high speed and ultimately overwhelm the West?

• Are America’s best days behind it? Are we creating a vicious cycle that enriches and empowers a small minority?

*Includes a downloadable PDF of maps from the book

“This book will change the way people think about the wealth and poverty of nations . . . as ambitious as Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.”—BusinessWeek

Like buying Apple at $2.75 - This matters!

'Inclusive political institutions" is a phrase we are already beginning to hear from analysts in the media. We will hear it more. This work manages to weave a historical analysis of major and minor nations into a coherent explanation of economic success and failure. It might just lend new insight into our problems here and now. It has changed my own opinion in important ways.

Well presented theory of national economies

A good theory of what makes national economies succeed or fail, supported by an impressive amount of historical research and examples. Worth a read just for the history it contains, examples of political and social structures from ancient Egypt to modern times, that are rarely mentioned in other histories, this was very informative and interesting. The audio artist was clear and well paced, so the book was presented like a series of lectures each with a specific topic the author was trying to convey. The effect was like listening to a well done college course on history and economics. Final summary was very thought provoking and raises questions regarding which direction the future economy of the world will be going. So many historical facts and so well written intend to reread and listen to it again, the reference maps and figures help greatly to understand the authors points. Excellent book and very well done.

Important learning

This book is essential reading for everyone who cares about the future of democracy and successful economic development. Inclusive institutions and an environment of creative destruction is clearly fundamental to success.

A great account for understanding development

Being from a developing country (in subsaharian Africa) I can say for a fact that this book is really eye opening. It gives answers and helps understand the reason my country is at the state it is and challenges me to take action into being part of the change. Thank you

Why Nations Fail : Why I gave 5 star to this book

Where does Why Nations Fail rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It so far the best book on ecomomics and world history I have read.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This book presents an amazing account of world history vis a vis evolution and growth or decline of societies, countries empires. . The authors have worked hard for many years to collect data and analyze to come up with a credible theory on prosperity or poverty of nations.

This book remove many of my ideas that used to have. For example I had the misconception that geography,race, work ethic and climate were some of the reasons why some nations are perpetually poor.