cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4157628
cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4157529
James Robinson, along with Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics for his research on the critical role institutions play in fostering national prosperity. In [this Q&A session]l with EL PAÍS, he explains that his work also seeks to highlight how the legacy of colonialism has impeded economic development in certain regions, particularly in Latin America and Africa.
James Robinson: [...] we make a simple division, focusing on the presence of inclusive institutions or extractive institutions. Inclusive institutions create broad incentives and opportunities for all people equally, while extractive institutions concentrate benefits and incentives in the hands of a few. Many economists say that development comes from entrepreneurship and innovation, but in reality it comes from people’s dreams, creativity and aspirations. To be prosperous, you have to create a series of institutions that can cultivate this talent. However, if you look at countries like Colombia or Nigeria, talent is wasted because people do not have opportunities.
[...]
Institutions can be an obstacle to competitiveness. However, one should consider the impact that European integration had on countries such as Spain, Portugal or the former Soviet countries. These are remarkable success stories. There has been an almost unprecedented transition. It is true that there may be too much regulation or inefficient rules, but broadly speaking the effects of European institutions has been largely positive over the past 50 years.
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[Immigration] is one of the big questions we have to solve. [...] it can be difficult. It is not easy to quickly incorporate the millions of people who cross the Mediterranean [trying to reach Europe]. One of the possible ways is to help them develop in order to improve the terrible situation in their own countries. However, one of the biggest complications is that the policies recommended by Western institutions are not in tune with what is happening in these [developing] countries. At the World Bank, for example, you cannot talk about politics. How do we expect them to solve real problems when you cannot talk about them? Frankly, it doesn’t make sense. If we really want to change the world, we have to have honest conversations. I see that as a long way off.
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The reality is that democratic countries have shown that they are better at managing public services and achieving rapid growth. You can find impressive examples like China among autocratic countries, but you cannot achieve an inclusive economy with an authoritarian regime and a model like the Chinese one.
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I don’t think the Chinese model can continue. If you look at other authoritarian regimes, like Iran or Russia, they are incredibly weak economically and technologically. The economy cannot flourish in an authoritarian regime. Right now, technological dynamism is concentrated in one such country and in the Western world. However, one has to consider that, with Donald Trump, the institutions that have made the United States great are being seriously questioned. This could affect the context, and that is why the European Union and NATO are so important.
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[Populism is linked to the growing disconnect between governments and citizens] and an example of this is Latin America. Democracy promised too much and did not always deliver. People’s lives did not change, and they sought new alternatives. There are various factors why democracy has not achieved transformations, such as clientelism and corruption. [...] Venezuela was governed in a deeply corrupt manner, and Hugo Chávez was clever in taking advantage of it. You also see this with Donald Trump, who has gone far because he realized there was widespread dissatisfaction with traditional politics. The failures of democratic institutions are real, and that is why we have to think about how to make them more empathetic to what people need.
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Artificial intelligence can be wonderful, but like all technologies, it depends on how it is used. If artificial intelligence is used to create replacements for humans, that could be devastating. [...] It is all about how it is used, and that depends on our governments. I think that these decisions should not be left to the tech gurus. They only think about what makes them the most money, even if this is not related to the general well-being of society. In the case of artificial intelligence, it is very important, because it could have a tectonic impact on the world.
I would really love to have a conversation about how the Nazis had a great economy, capable of going from rebuilding from WWI to starting WWII in 20 years.
I feel like worshipping the economy, and having it be the sole measure of society, inevitably leads us to the far-right. China is not going to magically crumble, and economic prosperity is achievable without societal progress.
We need to have societal progress as the goal, not some magic by-product of line go up.
Okay. 14 years under a relatively liberal democratic regime, and then 6 years of a fascist government seizing the property of anyone who was against the state, followed by another 6 years of a fascist government plundering nearby countries in order to fuel the war machine, all without providing a decent standard of living to its population. But hey, they had lots of guns, so I guess that's success.
The only competent Nazi economist of note was sidelined less than 3 years into the regime's rule.
Don't get me wrong, I was not advocating for nazism. I know you by reputation to be knowledgeable about history, so if you could recommend some literature into it, I'd love that.
What I'm saying is more a kind of fear I have instead of a statement, I just saw that nazi regimes seemed like able to channel economic productivity into some societal goal - even though that goal was utterly despicable and evil, like a war - instead of just having the economy grow as a cancer.
Oh, I figured you weren't actually advocating for Nazism, it's a very common misconception that the Nazis had some sort of economic competence up their sleeve that let them put their hideous plans into motion. The early Nazi economic moves were ingenious, but in a very shell game kind of way that was reliant on, well, like most Nazi endeavors, reliant on no other nations calling them out on their bluff. Very Bavarian fire drill - pretend that you're supposed to be doing it and people, even on the scale of nations, will hesitate to call you out. It's been years since I've done any serious reading on the subject, but I have a good short paper (or article? I need to organize these links at some point) lurking somewhere in my favorites on Hjalmar Schacht I can dig up once I'm done eating.
I mean more than two thirds of those 20 years were the Weimar republic, so if anything the credit goes to Weimar Germany here. The only contributions Nazis made to the economy were plundering Eastern European and Jewish wealth.
The Nazis overheated the German economy not entirely unlike what is happening in Russia right now. It wasn't sustainable nor healthy.
Russia is getting massive life and from the US and western sphere?
[email protected] is that way, buddy.
The economy assigns a quantifiable amount, a number, to things and unimaginative people will know how much value it brings. Ask an unimaginative person to ascribe value to beauty, joy, contentment, they will find them worthless without a number.
The economy is a guide for helping people who can't empathize or imagine. It has a purpose so we can't get rid of it. But we can give a stated value to the things we cherish as inalienable rights. And that value isn't a number, it is a priority. For example, I will turn down money if I am offered free time. No set amount of money would sway me, it would change day to day like market pricing, but I value time more than money.
I agree that we should dismiss "line go up" as a culture. Chasing money has only shown corruption. But we can shape the economy by giving priority to unvalued things.
I guess that's my point, the economy should be a means to societal progress, and I feel a lot of people pretend it works the other way around.
Corporations should be slaves to bettering our lives, instead of our lives being slaved to bettering corporations.
Germany didn't build up middle class as much, more the lower class (that was saved from starvation), the added a lot to national wealth & common everyday lives via accessible public infrastructure (all of it basically, not just the roads & railroads).
And China is curbing it's economical growth, and societal changes are happening, the first gens with mandatory education are now retired already.
I can't really say how much and what directions it's taking them, but no-one can prob - time will tell.