Books Mentioned in This Episode

Podcast: People I (Mostly) Admire

Episode: 124. Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power | People I (Mostly) Admire

Here’s a list of all the books mentioned in this episode, complete with an Amazon buy link and quotes from the episode.

Why Nations Fail Cover

Why Nations Fail

by Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

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"My guest today, Daron Acemoglu, is a professor of Economics at MIT and co-author of a number of influential books written for a popular audience, including "Why Nations Fail" and "Power and Progress.""
Why Nations Fail Cover

Why Nations Fail

by Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

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"Okay, so back in 2012, you and James Robinson published a book called "Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty.""
Why Nations Fail Cover

Why Nations Fail

by Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

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"You give fascinating examples in the book "Why Nations Fail," like there was this guy named William Lee who invented something called a stocking frame that dramatically sped up the rate at which people could knit, and one would expect this guy would get a hero's welcome, but you tell the story in the book that it was quite the opposite."
Why Nations Fail Cover

Why Nations Fail

by Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

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"That's what triggered the "Why Nations Fail" book, which you have so kindly explained in such a masterly way, and that's also what motivated my more recent book "Power and Progress.""
Power and Progress Cover

Power and Progress

by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson

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"That's what triggered the "Why Nations Fail" book, which you have so kindly explained in such a masterly way, and that's also what motivated my more recent book "Power and Progress.""
Power and Progress Cover

Power and Progress

by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson

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"Another point that you make really forcefully in your book is the importance of property rights."
Why Nations Fail Cover

Why Nations Fail

by Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

Buy on Amazon
"But looking back over human history, and I hadn't really fully understood this until I read "Why Nations Fail," not only are all of these pretty rare, but the set of circumstances that led to rule of law and property rights and democracy taking hold first in England and then spreading actually seems somewhat miraculous, that at some point early on an autocrat didn't stop the whole process dead and go back to this central control of all the assets."
Power and Progress Cover

Power and Progress

by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson

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"I want to talk about your most recent book; it's co-authored with Simon Johnson and it's called "Power and Progress," it came out in May of 2023."
Power and Progress Cover

Power and Progress

by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson

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"You have a lot of examples in the book of technologies which create a lot of good, but almost all of that good is gobbled up by a set of elites, and it leaves the rest of society no better off."
Power and Progress Cover

Power and Progress

by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson

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"The example that Simon and I give quite centrally in the book is Henry Ford's factories, which were at the forefront of automation."
Power and Progress Cover

Power and Progress

by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson

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"If you want more of Daron Acemoglu's thinking, my two favorite books of his are the ones we talked about today: "Why Nations Fail" and his most recent book, "Power and Progress.""