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Why Nations Fail

The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

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Why Nations Fail

By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
Narrated by: Dan Woren
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About this listen

 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




 Business Development Business Development & Entrepreneurship Economic History Economics International Political Science Politics & Government United States World Africa China Latin America Capitalism Thought-Provoking Economic Inequality Imperial Japan Success Taxation Imperialism Middle Ages Socialism Soviet Union Colonial Period Economic disparity Social justice Ancient History Russia
All stars
Most relevant
Clear , concise and entertaining. In a world where information and free press are key , inclusive institutions is what determines the wealth and well-being of nations.

Welll written and greatly narrated.

Mandatory reading for every citizen!

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Worth every penny if you are interested in geopolitical literature, great case studies and well presented throughout.

Performance was also first class! Highly recommended!!

Outstanding!

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A well researched and well told insight. Looking at the global economy and why there is such differences in income, economic stability, and overall prosperity between different nations.

Eye Opening

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I'd recommend this book geopolitics enthusiast, history lovers, or anyone keen to learn about economic and political institutions. A great listen.

Thumbs up

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If you want to learn about what real democracy is and when it succeeds and fails read this book.
The best book I have read
Listened to twice and i guess i will do so again
What we can learn from history!

A Must Read

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Quite long and dragged on at times but overall I learnt a hell of a lot and it puts a lot of things in perspective.
Narrator did a great job of place names too 🖒

a review

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Daron Acemoglu tackles brilliantly the main question of all political libertarians: Why revolutions fail. Why as much as we try to change the political landscape, power institutions seem to metamorphose and continue to prosper, maintaining and even deepening inequality. He does not offer solutions, but he does give deeply insightful examples in history, including recent, of nations that either evolved more humane institutions versus those that failed miserably. And no surprise, it all has to do with economics. However, he makes a very original defence of capitalism as redistributive only if and when the political system ensures fairness and a chance for individuals to threaten the status quo. I rank this book as good as The Shield of Achilles in shedding light on what drives history.

Entertaining, funny, and deeply insightful

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sweeping summary of inequality, reads like narrative history.
gripping listen, perfect for my weak grasp of economics and global politics, but I think others would enjoy it too.

rollicking introduction to global inequality

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to know where we are, it can be helpful to know where we come from. it appears the global society is on the cusp of serious changes

An interesting look how we got to where we are

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This book contains analysis, evidences, historical facts to support the author hypothesis about inclusive and exclusive political bodies which answered the question ‘why nations fail’. I really admire the depth of this book and the reality that has proven this hypothesis. Highly recommended.

Best political book highly recommended

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