Botswana

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In south america, you single out chile, cile and argentina. What went right for those those three? I want to say, argentina, i single o, single out in ininges, single out argentina,. Amay, look at botzwana was one of the poorest countries at the time of independence. And then it became the fastest growing country in the world. Why? Well, one factor was that they discovered diamonds. But that's not a factor, because, you know, they eisland everywhere in africa; civil warand all sorts of bad things. The Argentina path is very different. It much more like russia.

Daron Acemoglu of MIT and author (with James Robinson) of Why Nations Fail talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his book: why some nations fail and others succeed, why some nations grow over time and sustain that growth, while others grow and then stagnate. Acemoglu draws on an exceptionally rich set of examples over space and time to argue that differences in institutions--political governance and the inclusiveness of the political and economic system--explain the differences in economics success across nations and over time. Acemoglu also discusses how institutions evolve and the critical role institutional change plays in economic success or failure. Along the way, he explains why previous explanations for national economic success are inadequate. The conversation closes with a discussion of the implications of the arguments for foreign aid and attempts by the wealthy nations to help nations that are poor.