About the author
James A. Robinson is a British-American economist and political scientist whose research focuses on political institutions, development, state formation, and comparative history. He shared the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson.
Why Nations Fail brings Robinson's comparative political work together with Acemoglu's institutional economics. Historical cases are used to ask who controls power, who receives economic gains, and why elites sometimes prevent growth that would weaken them.
Where to start
Start with Why Nations Fail, co-written with Daron Acemoglu, then continue to The Narrow Corridor for their account of liberty and state power.
