Quotes from Daron AcemoÄŸlu

Bay in January 1788 under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. On January 26, now celebrated as Australia Day, they set up camp in Sydney Cove, the heart of the modern city of Sydney.

While Bigge was trying to turn back the clock, ex-convicts and their sons and daughters were demanding greater rights. Most important, they realized, again just as in the United States, that to consolidate their economic and political rights fully they needed political institutions that would include them in the process of decision making. They demanded elections in which they could participate as equals and representative institutions and assemblies in which they could hold office. The

Las diferencias institucionales más importantes que aparecieron tras la peste negra crearon el trasfondo en el que se producirían las divergencias más significativas entre Oriente y Occidente durante los siglos XVII, XVIII y XIX.

We will conclude by illustrating, with the example of the Maya city-states, how growth under extractive institutions is limited not only because of lack of technological progress but also because it will encourage infighting from rival groups wishing to take control of the state and the extraction it generates.

The outcome of political conflict is never certain, and even if in hindsight we see many historical events as inevitable, the path of history is contingent. Nevertheless, once in place, inclusive economic and political institutions tend to create a virtuous circle, a process of positive feedback, making it more likely that these institutions will persist and even expand.

Japan and Singapore never had more than a sprinkling of inhabitants of European descent, yet they are as prosperous as many parts of Western Europe.

While part of the appeal of authoritarian growth comes as a reaction to the Washington consensus, perhaps its greater charm—certainly to the rulers presiding over extractive institutions—is that it gives them free rein in maintaining and even strengthening their hold on power and legitimizes their extraction.

Liberty needs the state and the laws. But it is not given by the state or the elites controlling it. It is taken by regular people, by society. Society needs to control the state so that it protects and promotes people's liberty rather than quashing it like Assad did in Syria before 2011. Liberty needs a mobilized society that participates in politics, protests when it's necessary, and votes the government out of power when it can.

Las coyunturas críticas en sí son puntos de inflexión históricos. Y los círculos viciosos y virtuosos implican que tenemos que estudiar la historia

The leaders of the French Revolution and, subsequently, Napoleon exported the revolution to these lands, destroying absolutism, ending feudal land relations, abolishing guilds, and imposing equality before the law—the all-important notion of rule of law, which we will discuss in greater detail in the next chapter. The French Revolution thus prepared not only France but much of the rest of Europe for inclusive institutions and the economic growth that these would spur. As

In the words of a Chinese economist, "Big state companies can get involved in huge projects. But when private companies do so, especially in competition with the state, then trouble comes from every corners [sic].

science of economics should focus on the best use of scarce means to satisfy social ends.

Cuando el Estado no logra prácticamente ninguna centralización política, la sociedad, tarde o temprano, llega al caos

First perfected by Cortés in Mexico, it was based on the observation that the best way for the Spanish to subdue opposition was to capture the indigenous leader. This strategy enabled the Spanish to claim the accumulated wealth of the leader and coerce the indigenous peoples to give tribute and food. The next step was setting themselves up as the new elite of the indigenous society and taking control of the existing methods of taxation, tribute, and, particularly, forced labor. When

El temor a la destrucción creativa es la razón principal por la que no hubo un aumento sostenido del nivel de vida entre la revolución neolítica y la revolución industrial

On the eve of the French Revolution in 1789, there were severe restrictions placed on Jews throughout Europe. In the German city of Frankfurt, for example, their lives were regulated by orders set out in a statute dating from the Middle Ages. There

La desigualdad mundial existe actualmente porque, durante los siglos XIX y XX, algunos países fueron capaces de aprovechar la revolución industrial y las tecnologías y los métodos de organización que aportaba mientras que otros no.

what rules society ends up with is determined by politics: who has power and how this power can be exercised.

La explicación histórica que hemos presentado hasta ahora indica que cualquier enfoque basado en el determinismo histórico (basado en geografía, cultura o incluso en otros factores históricos) es inadecuado. Las pequeñas diferencias y la casualidad no forman parte solamente

economist Abba Lerner noted in the 1970s, "Economics has gained the title Queen of the Social Sciences by choosing solved political problems as its domain.

Today we still call the standard method of achieving secrecy in voting in elections the Australian ballot. The

After all, if ignorance were the problem, well-meaning leaders would quickly learn what types of policies increased their citizens' incomes and welfare, and would gravitate toward those policies.

la rentabilidad de los imperios coloniales europeos a menudo se basaba en la destrucción de Estados independientes y de economías indígenas de todo el mundo o en la creación de instituciones extractivas esencialmente desde cero.

There are two important lessons here. First, foreign aid is not a very effective means of dealing with the failure of nations around the world today. Far from it. Countries need inclusive economic and political institutions to break out of the cycle of poverty.