Why Nations Fail

James Robinson gives in this talk a short introduction into the theory and ideas of his popular book "Why Nations Fail" which was published together with D. Acemoglu in 2012. With many real-life examples, he gives a lively description of the fundamentals for economic success from an institutionalist view.

According to Robinson, the nature of institutions is a crucial factor for economic success. Whether institutions are inclusive (such as in prosperous economies) or extractive (poor economies) stems from the nation's political process and the distribution of political power.

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Comment from our editors:

Albeit an interesting introduction to the ideas of institutionalist economics, the talk is limited and one-dimensional. More importantly, the choice of the very title "Why Nations Fail" seems somewhat unfortunate; the content of the talk is more related with the idea of "why some economies are thriving and others are not". Calling a nation a failure just for the fact of being underdeveloped may be considered an exaggeration. 

Go to: Why Nations Fail