AN ECONOMICS PRIZE FOR DEMOCRACY: Belated Celebration or Early Eulogy?

“Democratizations increase GDP per capita by about 20% in the long run.” Daron Acemoglu, Suresh Naidu, Pascal Restrepo, and James A. Robinson

“We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“As institutions influence behavior and incentives in real life, they forge the success or failure of nations.” Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

“Democracy consolidates when elites do not have strong incentive to overthrow it. These processes depend on (1) the strength of civil society, (2) the structure of political institutions, (3) the nature of political and economic crises, (4) the level of economic inequality, (5) the structure of the economy, and (6) the form and extent of globalization.” Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

“Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better. The laureates’ research helps us understand why.” Swedish Royal Committee

What an incredibly interesting time for the Nobel Prize in Economics to go to a tiny band of extremely rare and all foreign-born American economists (Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson) who describe the importance of…