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)

Great book and need multiple reading through

One of the best book I have read . For the narrator , it is “Ching Dynasty” not King Dynasty as you read Qing. I plan to listen at least one more time on this book!

Inclusive vs exclusive societies

If you could sum up Why Nations Fail in three words, what would they be?

defended thesis

Any additional comments?

The authors provide an Interesting insight into exclusionary versus inclusionary societies. Plenty of historical and current examples provide support for their thesis that the most successful and sustainable societies are those that include more of their populations in decision making as well as a greater share of the economic pie. It???s an interesting view in light of a presidential election year casting a more inclusionary vision with an exclusionary one (albeit masked in propaganda of offering ???freedom??? in exchange for less government). With the US having become less and less a country of class/economic mobility, an educated electorate would do well to catch up on what???s happened historically as well as currently when a small percentage capture more and more of a country???s wealth and income.

100 times recommendable...

i live in Argentina, ij one of the extractive economies the authors mention in the book. Thus, I have actually recommended it to my friends a hundred times over.

Intelligent informative

loved it, narrated well good examples and some great insights, factual and inspiring a good read!

Highly recommended to people who ask why

I would recommend this book to people who question countries places in the world. Definitely a counterpart to Guns, Germs, and Steel.

It feels old

If you could sum up Why Nations Fail in three words, what would they be?

A very good research about origins of poverty in Africa and Latin America but so terrible explaining China development and more terrible forecasting the rise of Brazil

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The good research about the spanish Colonialism how doomed for the coming years all the countries in Latin America

Have you listened to any of Dan Woren’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Never forecast

Any additional comments?

Very good book , awesome perfomance , a little bit difficult to the narrator to spell so many Names and Institutions in different languages ( Spanish , French , Afrikaans and Chinese).

The book feel old in the last chapters , specially trying to forecast the decline of china and the rise of Brazil

Great!!

Very interesting and very well written. Full of facts that make the listening fun during sporting activities such as run or bike.

Insightful history on how extractive and inclusive systems evolve

This is a great series of case studies on how countries rise and fall. And important context for what is happening in the world at all times. Easy to read and full of practical information and examples that underpin the often complex topic of human behavior.

great

a different view with a global historical basis, sometimes a little confusing, but it worth the time

Great analysis

Would you consider the audio edition of Why Nations Fail to be better than the print version?

Perhaps.

Any additional comments?

I think, this book comes around to a very likely conclusion.
It effectively analyses why many other suggestions about this may be wrong. Very enligthening and highly recommended.