What better way to start the New Year than with a taster of a forthcoming book by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson about the age-old question in economics: why do some economies grow and others not? This article in Esquire majors on the links between democracy and economic performance  – and no doubt oversimplifies the argument in the book. Here's the heart of it, however:

“People need incentives to invest and prosper; they need to know that
if they work hard, they can make money and actually keep that money.
And the key to ensuring those incentives is sound institutions — the
rule of law and security and a governing system that offers
opportunities to achieve and innovate. That's what determines the haves
from the have-nots — not geography or weather or technology or disease
or ethnicity.

Put simply: Fix incentives and you will fix poverty. And if you wish to fix institutions, you have to fix governments.”

It will certainly be one to look forward to. The next post will flag up some other forthcoming titles, some of which look really terrific.