Studies on the wealth and poverty of nations at the turn of the millennium: contribution by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

Abstract

At the turn of the third millennium, a number of books were published in which their authors, among them eminent economic historians and economists, undertook to identify the reasons for wealth and poverty worldwide.

This paper aims to present the main works of the recent years, which focused on income disproportions occurring globally and their possible reasons. A particular attention has been given to the latest work by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson Why Nations Fail. The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty (2013), in which the authors, on the example of dozens of historical cases, attempt to explain the origin of the differences existing between the wealthy and poor countries. The work is an institutional interpretation of history in which the authors attempt to answer the question how history shapes institutional development paths of different nations. In their opinion, history is not destiny, nor is it determined by geographical factors, cultural events or even ignorance of the rules or governors. Instead, it is determined by institutions.