At the Book Fair, which opens on Saturday, at the Clio stand, there will be the book "Why Nations Fail" written by this year's winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.
Clio published the book "Why nations fail" ten years ago. Daron Acemoglu (as he pronounces his last name, not Acimoglu as published here) with collaborators James Robinson and Simon Johnson, received the Nobel Prize recently.
"Why nations fail" is his most famous book.
Acemoglu gained academic fame with works that lie on the border between political economy and the theory of economic growth. According to Clio, it has enabled us, for example, to better understand the colonial origins of modern institutions, as well as the historical cause-and-effect relationships that provide an answer to the old economic question: why some are rich and others are poor. He offered us new insights into the economic origins of dictatorship and democracy, based on insights into changes in political institutions.
The work "Why Nations Decline" explains in a new way the gap between rich and poor nations, i.e. how it is possible for one and the same people to live in deep poverty in their own country, and become prosperous citizens as soon as they move to another country.
Acemoglu uses the example of two neighboring towns named Nogales, one in Mexico and the other in the US: one is poor and the other is rich. Economists have answered in the past that the problem is that poor countries lack capital and then that the poor are applying the wrong economic recipes.
Acemoglu argues that the answer lies in political institutions and that China, despite its enormous economic development, will not bring full modern prosperity to its citizens. At the basis of such prosperity, according to this economist, is the political struggle against privileges: the key is "inclusive" political institutions.
In the conversation with Asemoglu on the occasion of the publication of this book in Serbian, Boris Begović, a professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade and expert translation editor, also talked about Serbia.
"Serbia has failed to fundamentally reform its economic institutions so that they become more inclusive." But I think that it is not unrelated to the political problems that have their roots in the wars in which Serbia participated. The transition period in Serbia has led to great polarization, and this always has long-term consequences for economic and political institutions," said Daren Asemoglu ten years ago.
