Why Nations Fail
The Mystery of Inequality Why are some countries rich and stable while their neighbors are poor and chaotic? In their 2012 book Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson argue that the answer isn’t geography, culture, or luck. It comes down to one thing: institutions. The authors open with a perfect real-world experiment: the city of Nogales. A fence cuts the city in half. North (Arizona, USA): Residents have property rights, a functioning legal system, and can vote people out of office. They are relatively wealthy and healthy. South (Sonora, Mexico): Just a few feet away, residents face corruption, unreliable laws, and economic instability. They earn a fraction of what their northern neighbors do. Both sides share the same geography, the same climate, and the same culture. The only difference is the system they live in. ...