Daron Acemoglu

People were just somehow so fascinated by it. And we were like, oh, man, you know, we hit it out the park, basically. It's just like the... You could just see people loved it and they found it fascinating. It was really kind of elating. That's what I remember.

People were just somehow so fascinated by it. And we were like, oh, man, you know, we hit it out the park, basically. It's just like the... You could just see people loved it and they found it fascinating. It was really kind of elating. That's what I remember.

We thought this is just like devastating evidence on the impact, A, of colonialism in kind of reshaping those societies, and B, showing that the geographical hypothesis can't possibly be right, you know, because there isn't persistence. When colonialism comes, it reverses this picture. Then it turned out that's not just true in the Americas. It's true more generally in this colonial world.

We thought this is just like devastating evidence on the impact, A, of colonialism in kind of reshaping those societies, and B, showing that the geographical hypothesis can't possibly be right, you know, because there isn't persistence. When colonialism comes, it reverses this picture. Then it turned out that's not just true in the Americas. It's true more generally in this colonial world.

We thought this is just like devastating evidence on the impact, A, of colonialism in kind of reshaping those societies, and B, showing that the geographical hypothesis can't possibly be right, you know, because there isn't persistence. When colonialism comes, it reverses this picture. Then it turned out that's not just true in the Americas. It's true more generally in this colonial world.

One of the things we tried to do in our book is come up with this sort of flexible language to talk about institutional differences, which kind of encompasses many things. Like I can say, your society has sort of extractive institutions, or it has inclusive institutions, and that can incorporate all sorts of differences in the details.

One of the things we tried to do in our book is come up with this sort of flexible language to talk about institutional differences, which kind of encompasses many things. Like I can say, your society has sort of extractive institutions, or it has inclusive institutions, and that can incorporate all sorts of differences in the details.

One of the things we tried to do in our book is come up with this sort of flexible language to talk about institutional differences, which kind of encompasses many things. Like I can say, your society has sort of extractive institutions, or it has inclusive institutions, and that can incorporate all sorts of differences in the details.

We find very robust evidence that, you know, democracy is associated with better provision of public goods, better investment in education, in infrastructure, higher economic growth. Great. Okay. So... That's true. But he says all democracies aren't created equal. There's many different types of democracies and there's many different types of dictatorships.

We find very robust evidence that, you know, democracy is associated with better provision of public goods, better investment in education, in infrastructure, higher economic growth. Great. Okay. So... That's true. But he says all democracies aren't created equal. There's many different types of democracies and there's many different types of dictatorships.

We find very robust evidence that, you know, democracy is associated with better provision of public goods, better investment in education, in infrastructure, higher economic growth. Great. Okay. So... That's true. But he says all democracies aren't created equal. There's many different types of democracies and there's many different types of dictatorships.

So I think that's useful to know just in terms of like, is it a good idea to push for democracy? Yes. You know, is pushing for democracy a kind of magic wand? No.

So I think that's useful to know just in terms of like, is it a good idea to push for democracy? Yes. You know, is pushing for democracy a kind of magic wand? No.

So I think that's useful to know just in terms of like, is it a good idea to push for democracy? Yes. You know, is pushing for democracy a kind of magic wand? No.

People are born into this caste, you know, where occupations are rigid and specified. And that enormously holds back social mobility and the potential of the country.

People are born into this caste, you know, where occupations are rigid and specified. And that enormously holds back social mobility and the potential of the country.

People are born into this caste, you know, where occupations are rigid and specified. And that enormously holds back social mobility and the potential of the country.

the transition towards economic growth in China starting in the late 1970s is clearly, you know, driven by this move to much more inclusive economic institutions, sort of dismantling central planning and cooperative agriculture, kind of introducing incentives, getting rid of price controls, allowing people to kind of make decisions and start firms.

the transition towards economic growth in China starting in the late 1970s is clearly, you know, driven by this move to much more inclusive economic institutions, sort of dismantling central planning and cooperative agriculture, kind of introducing incentives, getting rid of price controls, allowing people to kind of make decisions and start firms.

the transition towards economic growth in China starting in the late 1970s is clearly, you know, driven by this move to much more inclusive economic institutions, sort of dismantling central planning and cooperative agriculture, kind of introducing incentives, getting rid of price controls, allowing people to kind of make decisions and start firms.