In our last post we discussed our generally favorable impression
of Damon Acemoglu and James Robinson’s Why Nations Fail. As we
indicated, we’re not economic historians or political
economists, so we’re not quite in a position to pass judgment on
the relative merits of A&R’s arguments. But they seem to explain
quite a lot about the historical development of countries purely
in terms of their economic and political systems, irrespective
of cultural and environmental considerations. As we indicated,
we don’t necessarily think this precludes multi-layered
explanations, but we give A&R points for trying to develop a
relatively straightforward theory about why some countries are
rich, and some countries are poor. So, what about the United
States? It has clearly been one of the most successful
experiments in country-building in human history, as a result of
a number of factors—inclusive political and economic
institutions in particular. A&R note in their book that this was
not necessarily guaranteed or intended—ear