Why Nations Fail — Book Review

Readability 4/5
Content 3.5/5
Relevance 5/5

The one sentence thesis of this novel is: Extractive institutions historically fail over time due to gradual political staleness, elite fear of creative destruction, and economic downturn; in favor of inclusive institutions which allow creative destruction, encourage elite turnover, economic transition, and innovation.

I generally agree with other reviews online that this book doesn’t emphasize other factors. This book says political factors are the primary driver behind economics of a nation and thus lead to fall of a nation over time if they are too extractive. It does emphasize cultural differences do not affect a nation’s success. It does mention social or geographic factors also do not affect a nation’s success. It all comes down to the thesis as mentioned.

I would argue the purpose of this book was to prove a general theory that is applicable across. Nations without geographic drivers and unfortunate series of events, bad luck, etc., these don’t factor in as a general reason for nation failure, therefore they would be weaker arguments anyway.

I found I almost wholly agreed with this book. I found even though I noticed they didn’t utilize a few notable countries in the world for the book’s arguments, I could apply the theory towards those countries’ history anyway.