A world-renowned economist tackles tough questions and contends that governments can play an essential role in the development of markets. His exploration of "market-augmenting governments" provides a useful framework in which to consider the Asian financial crisis and its aftermath.

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.

In her latest book, author and intuitive consultant Lynn A. Robinson lights the path to prosperity by showing her readers how to access their true dreams and passions and how to tap into their personal wells of abundance. Refreshingly down to earth and rich with humor, compassion, and compelling tales of success, Real Prosperity points its readers to financial and spiritual prosperity with sage advice, true stories, inspirational quotes, and quick, practical exercises that add a valuable "how to" factor not often found in this genre. At a time when Americans are sinking into a quagmire of debt and the deeper meaning of life seems to elude even the well off, this wonderful new book offers relief and promises to help its readers chart a course to a richer, more abundant life. This is not a get-rich-quick or pray-your-way-to-wealth book. Nor is it a book about financial planning and debt reduction. It is, instead, an inspiring and uplifting guide that delivers hope, not hype; workable lessons, not foolish philosophy. In other words, it's a book that can work magic in your life. Read it and you'll agree.

Awaken Your Fullest Potential Presence Is Power: Seven Steps for Choosing a Life of Prosperity is a concise guide for moving away from “scarcity consciousness” (the false perception of absence or lack) and into a life of our choosing, where we direct our lives with the power of our awareness to live a life of abundance. If the life we lead is simply a choice we make, why are so few of us living life to the fullest in true prosperity? Presence Is Power answers that question and guides the reader towards nourishing intentions with purpose and love. Awaken to your fullest potential with the seven essential steps that Icelandic based author Gudni Gunnarsson has developed over his acclaimed twenty-five year career as a personal life coach and fitness expert. The seven-step progression shared in Presence Is Power leads readers away from fear-based thinking toward the purpose of living in prosperity and gratitude. By acknowledging that our essence is pure energy, light and love, we reveal the miracle that is in us! In this book, readers are urged to take the journey presented here to live life as we were meant to – in prosperity and gratitude. The book includes inspirational quotes and end-of-chapter daily reflections with tips and questions to get the reader fully engaged in the process of the seven steps. Presence Is Power was a best-seller in Iceland and is now being released in the U.S.

How nations can promote peace, prosperity, and stability through cohesive political institutions "Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things." So wrote Adam Smith a quarter of a millennium ago. Using the tools of modern political economics and combining economic theory with a bird's-eye view of the data, this book reinterprets Smith's pillars of prosperity to explain the existence of development clusters—places that tend to combine effective state institutions, the absence of political violence, and high per-capita incomes. To achieve peace, the authors stress the avoidance of repressive government and civil conflict. Easy taxes, they argue, refers not to low taxes, but a tax system with widespread compliance that collects taxes at a reasonable cost from a broad base, like income. And a tolerable administration of justice is about legal infrastructure that can support the enforcement of contracts and property rights in line with the rule of law. The authors show that countries tend to enjoy all three pillars of prosperity when they have evolved cohesive political institutions that promote common interests, guaranteeing the provision of public goods. In line with much historical research, international conflict has also been an important force behind effective states by fostering common interests. The absence of common interests and/or cohesive political institutions can explain the existence of very different development clusters in fragile states that are plagued by poverty, violence, and weak state capacity.

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Winner of Balsillie Prize for Public Policy Winner of Donner Prize A challenge to prevailing ideas about innovation and a guide to identifying the best growth strategy for your community. Across the world, cities and regions have wasted trillions of dollars on blindly copying the Silicon Valley model of growth creation. Since the early years of the information age, we've been told that economic growth derives from harnessing technological innovation. To do this, places must create good education systems, partner with local research universities, and attract innovative hi-tech firms. We have lived with this system for decades, and the result is clear: a small number of regions and cities at the top of the high-tech industry but many more fighting a losing battle to retain economic dynamism. But are there other models that don't rely on a flourishing high-tech industry? In Innovation in Real Places, Dan Breznitz argues that there are. The purveyors of the dominant ideas on innovation have a feeble understanding of the big picture on global production and innovation. They conflate innovation with invention and suffer from techno-fetishism. In their devotion to start-ups, they refuse to admit that the real obstacle to growth for most cities is the overwhelming power of the real hubs, which siphon up vast amounts of talent and money. Communities waste time, money, and energy pursuing this road to nowhere. Breznitz proposes that communities instead focus on where they fit in the four stages in the global production process. Some are at the highest end, and that is where the Clevelands, Sheffields, and Baltimores are being pushed toward. But that is bad advice. Success lies in understanding the changed structure of the global system of production and then using those insights to enable communities to recognize their own advantages, which in turn allows to them to foster surprising forms of specialized innovation. As he stresses, all localities have certain advantages relative to at least one stage of the global production process, and the trick is in recognizing it. Leaders might think the answer lies in high-tech or high-end manufacturing, but more often than not, they're wrong. Innovation in Real Places is an essential corrective to a mythology of innovation and growth that too many places have bought into in recent years. Best of all, it has the potential to prod local leaders into pursuing realistic and regionally appropriate models for growth and innovation.