Daron Acemoglu

You know, why are institutions in Nigeria, you know, so lousy compared to the United States or Canada? You know, well, that's got something to do with the very different types of institutions that were created in the colonial world.

And so we started reading like mad about colonialism and like trying to understand the incentives and what to explain different institutions. Why did such good institutions emerge in the United States and why not in Nigeria?

And so we started reading like mad about colonialism and like trying to understand the incentives and what to explain different institutions. Why did such good institutions emerge in the United States and why not in Nigeria?

And so we started reading like mad about colonialism and like trying to understand the incentives and what to explain different institutions. Why did such good institutions emerge in the United States and why not in Nigeria?

The historical mortality environment for Europeans enormously influenced whether or not these places became settler colonies.

The historical mortality environment for Europeans enormously influenced whether or not these places became settler colonies.

The historical mortality environment for Europeans enormously influenced whether or not these places became settler colonies.

But then several early colonizing attempts were basically decimated by tropical diseases and then decided like, OK, forget that. Let's go to Massachusetts. Like it's rocky. It's kind of unappealing. But we're not all going to die of tropical diseases.

But then several early colonizing attempts were basically decimated by tropical diseases and then decided like, OK, forget that. Let's go to Massachusetts. Like it's rocky. It's kind of unappealing. But we're not all going to die of tropical diseases.

But then several early colonizing attempts were basically decimated by tropical diseases and then decided like, OK, forget that. Let's go to Massachusetts. Like it's rocky. It's kind of unappealing. But we're not all going to die of tropical diseases.

The very distinguished economist came in and asked us, so what are you guys up to? And Daron, like all excited, explained this idea of sort of historical mortality of European settlers. And he just laughed himself silly. He thought it was the most ridiculous idea he'd ever heard in his life.

The very distinguished economist came in and asked us, so what are you guys up to? And Daron, like all excited, explained this idea of sort of historical mortality of European settlers. And he just laughed himself silly. He thought it was the most ridiculous idea he'd ever heard in his life.

The very distinguished economist came in and asked us, so what are you guys up to? And Daron, like all excited, explained this idea of sort of historical mortality of European settlers. And he just laughed himself silly. He thought it was the most ridiculous idea he'd ever heard in his life.

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.

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.