Post-Crash Economics Society reposted this
Geopolitics & Political Economy | Assisting Research @UChicago | Visiting @Stanford | MPhilled @Oxford in IR
Four years ago, the 2024 Nobel laureate James Robinson wrote an essay* in support of our student initiative for reform of the economics curriculum, the Post-Crash Economics Society. He argued against the inclination of economists to think of "their" quantitative methods as superior and uniquely rigorous. Emphasising the "need to broaden the way economics is taught", he pointed to the limits of the discipline in his own area of research: "Economists don’t actually understand, or understand only at a very superficial level, problems of development and […] they desperately need the help and ideas of other scholars." It comes at no surprise, then, that James has called himself a "recovering economists". Today, I have the enormous pleasure to marginally contribute to and learn a lot from this "recovery" by assisting his – mostly qualitative/historical – research on state building in the newly independent Democratic Republic of Congo. Congratulations to James Robinson, Daron Acemoglu, and Simon Johnson! *You can find the full essay on his website: https://lnkd.in/eyZr3r3C
BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.” This year’s economic sciences laureates – Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson – have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity. 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. When Europeans colonised large parts of the globe, the institutions in those societies changed. This was sometimes dramatic, but did not occur in the same way everywhere. In some places the aim was to exploit the indigenous population and extract resources for the colonisers’ benefit. In others, the colonisers formed inclusive political and economic systems for the long-term benefit of European migrants. The laureates have shown that one explanation for differences in countries’ prosperity is the societal institutions that were introduced during colonisation. Inclusive institutions were often introduced in countries that were poor when they were colonised, over time resulting in a generally prosperous population. This is an important reason for why former colonies that were once rich are now poor, and vice versa. Some countries become trapped in a situation with extractive institutions and low economic growth. The introduction of inclusive institutions would create long-term benefits for everyone, but extractive institutions provide short-term gains for the people in power. As long as the political system guarantees they will remain in control, no one will trust their promises of future economic reforms. According to the laureates, this is why no improvement occurs. However, this inability to make credible promises of positive change can also explain why democratisation sometimes occurs. When there is a threat of revolution, the people in power face a dilemma. They would prefer to remain in power and try to placate the masses by promising economic reforms, but the population are unlikely to believe that they will not return to the old system as soon as the situation settles down. In the end, the only option may be to transfer power and establish democracy. “Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” says Jakob Svensson, chair of the committee for the prize in economic sciences. Learn more Press release: https://bit.ly/4dpfV3u Popular information: https://bit.ly/47LYGsg Advanced information: https://bit.ly/3TLvprw