contents
preface • 1
Why Egyptians filled Tahrir Square to bring down Hosni Mubarak and what it means for our understanding of the causes of prosperity and poverty
1.So close and yet So different • 7
Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, have the same people,
culture, and geography. Why is one rich and one poor?
2.theories that don't work • 45
Poor countries are poor not because of their geographies or cultures,
or because their leaders do not know which policies will enrich
their citizens
3-the making of prosperity and poverty • 70
How prosperity and poverty are determined by the incentives
created by institutions, and how politics determines what
institutions a nation has
4-small differences and critical junctures:
the weight of history • 96
How institutions change through political conflict and how
the past shapes the present
5-"i've seen the future, and it works":
growth under extractive institutions • 124
What Stalin, King Shyaam, the Neolithic Revolution, and the
Maya city-states all had in common and how this explains why
Chinas current economic growth cannot last
6.drifting apart • 152
How institutions evolve over time, often slowly drifting apart
7. the turning point • 182
How apolitical revolution in 1688 changed institutions in England and led to the Industrial Revolution
8.not on our turf: barriers to development • 213
Why the politically powerful in many nations opposed the Industrial Revolution
9.reversing development • 245
How European colonialism impoverished large parts of the world
10.the diffusion of prosperity • 274
How some parts of the world took different paths to prosperity
from that of Britain
II.the virtuous circle • 302
How institutions that encourage prosperity create positive feedback loops that prevent the efforts by elites to undermine them
12.the Vicious circle • 335
How institutions that create poverty generate negative
feedback loops and endure
13.why nations fail today • 368 Institutions, institutions, institutions
14.breaking the mold • 404
How a few countries changed their economic trajectory by changing their institutions
15.understanding prosperity and poverty • 428
How the world could have been different and how understanding this can explain why most attempts to combat poverty have failed
acknowledgments • 463
bibliographical essay and sources • 465
references • 483
index • 511