Nobel Lecture: Paths to the Periphery

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Robinson, James A.
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; University of Nigeria; University of Nigeria
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.115.6.1787
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 1787-1817
• 关键词: SEGMENTARY LINEAGE; institutions; ORGANIZATION; EVOLUTION; AFRICA; income

摘要

My research suggests that world inequality is explained by the incidence of extractive and inclusive institutions. But why do some countries have extractive institutions? I distinguish between two main reasons; first, power relations; second, the normative order. Normative orders provide justifications and legitimacy for institutions which may not generate prosperity, but may achieve other goals. These distinctions are critical because they create very different challenges in trying to make institutions more inclusive and create prosperity. I show how countries move from the economic periphery as a consequence of changing both. My own intellectual journey has been in the other direction, however, hence the title of the paper: I was fortunate to be born in Britain, but I have had to unlearn much of my own experience, socialization and training in order to see other societies on their own terms. That's crucial to be able to help them, but also to learn from them. (JEL D02, D63, E23, K00, O43, Q32)