NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS’ PERSPECTIVE ON WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS. CONCISE REVIEW AND GENERAL REMARKS ON ACEMOGLU AND ROBINSON’S CONCEPT

Joanna DZIONEK-KOZŁOWSKA, Rafał MATERA

Abstract


Many thinkers made attempts to explain differences in economic development between countries, and point out what should be done to foster development. We review briefly some spectacular theories focused on these fundamental problems. We use the tools of economic analysis and the methods characteristic especially for institutional economics and economic history. However, the paper’s central aim is to analyse and assess one of the newest voices in that still open discussion coming from Acemoglu and Robinson and presented in their “Why Nation Failed? The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty”. Their book is brimmed with compelling illustrations, which we acknowledge as its strongest point. While the accuracy and coherence of their generalisations leave much to be desired. The analysis of those examples let to infer that the most important element encouraging or hampering economic development is the common participation of the people in economic and political processes.

Full text: PDF

Keyword(s)


new institutional economics, inclusive institutions, extractive institutions, economic development, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

References


Acemoglu, D., 2009. Introduction to Modern Economic Growth. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Acemoglu, D., 2012. The World in Crisis: Interview with Daron Acemoglu. In E. Ocampo (Ed.), La Era de la Burbuja.

Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., and Robinson, J. A., 2001. The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation. American Economic Review, 91(5), 1369-1401. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.91.5.1369

Acemoglu, D., and Robinson, J. A., 2013. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. London: Profile Books.

Allen, R. C., 2011. Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.

Beattie, A., 2009. False Economy: A Surprising Economic History of the World. New York: Riverhead Books.

Dzionek-Kozlowska, J., and Matera, R., 2015. Ethics in Economic Thought. Selected Issues and Various Perspectives Retrieved from http://www.hmeihg.uni.lodz.pl/publikacje/dzionek_matera_ethics

_preface.pdf

Krugman, P. R., 2004. The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Kula, W., 1983. Problemy i metody historii gospodarczej (2 ed.). Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.

Lal, D., 2006. Reviving the Invisible Hand: The Case for Classical Liberalism in the Twenty-First Century. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Miller, T., and Kim, A. B., 2015. 2015 Index of Economic Freedom. Promoting Economic Opportunity and Prosperity Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/index/pdf/2015/book/index_2015.pdf

North, D. C., 1994. Economic Performance Through Time. The American Economic Review, 84(3), 359-368.

Sachs, J. D., 2005. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: The Penguin Press.

Stiglitz, J. E., 2002. Globalization and its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.