The origins of power, prosperity and poverty – Telquel.ma

CThis is the case of “Why Nations Fail” (in French Prosperity, power and poverty. Why some countries succeed better than others). The work was published for the first time in 2012, signed by American economists Daron Acemoglu of the prestigious MIT University (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and James Robinson of the University of Chicago, winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics.

If the book has, so to speak, gone unnoticed in Morocco, it is already considered a classic throughout the world, given the breadth of its analyzes and their explanatory force.

The thesis of the two authors, specialists in Africa and Latin America, is quite easy to summarize: inequalities in the world are linked neither to geography nor to culture, as has been constantly repeated for decades , but would have their deep origins in the institutions, or to put it another way, in the governance of the territories concerned.

« Why Nations Fail », s’attache to demonstrate that development gaps are fundamentally linked to the fact that the countries concerned do not have the same institutions in the same relationship with the rule of law, the ultimate key to prosperity.

Extractive institutions, inclusive institutions

The first designate a situation where political-economic power is concentrated in a few hands. The consequence of such extractive institutions is that populations have even less reason to produce more, they have absolutely no interest, no incentive, to innovate and create more wealth, since they are others who will benefit from it.

Conversely, inclusive institutions are those where power is both widely distributed and, above all, controlled. Which allows for the sharing of productivity, education, technological progress and the well-being of the nation as a whole.

It is indeed the existence of pluralism which guarantees that power will not be monopolized by a minority for its sole benefit, but that on the contrary it will be kept on a leash, monitored, counterbalanced, balanced, corrected, weighted, and therefore will have no choice but to respect the rights of individuals.

From then on, they will naturally be encouraged to innovate to create more wealth, wealth from which they themselves can benefit.

There is therefore a virtuous or vicious circle between economic and political institutions, depending on whether they prove to be more or less inclusive or extractive.

Indeed, broadly inclusive, that is to say pluralistic, political institutions promote the emergence of new innovative economic sectors and new prosperous social strata, which will therefore only be able to control and share even more.

Conversely, extractive political and economic institutions mutually maintain each other, as demonstrated by an impressive number of historical examples, taken from all eras and all continents.

Indeed, the two authors establish a very powerful link between absence of political pluralism and absence of economic development.

Against the naive apology of liberalism

Another idea in the book illustrates the limits of certain naive apologies for the market, which contribute to discrediting authentic liberalism. This is the idea that the presence of the market alone is not enough to guarantee inclusive (pluralist) institutions, which also require a level playing field to ensure a true rule of law capable of generating development. sustainable economy.

There is no other wealth than the population of a country, and the key to success lies in good governance, that is to say in an order of law guaranteed by controlled powers.

“Nations fail”write the authors, “when they have extractive economic institutions, supported by extractive political institutions that hinder and even block economic growth.

Nations succeed when their political and economic institutions function in the interest of the greatest number by providing growth, opportunities and perspectives. “ There is a middle class when there is hope ».

On the other hand, nations fail when their institutions, deliberately or through impotence, concentrate power and opportunities in the hands of a small number and when they favor their operating logic to the detriment of the general interest.

« Incentives to innovate, to invest, to educate are crucial. Institutions form the framework for these incentives. They create an environment in which everyone can play by the same rules and on which people can build », explains Daron Acemoglu. If the chances are not equal and the game is distorted in advance, society is blocked.

« Inclusive economic institutions protect property rights, guarantee equal opportunities, encourage investment in new technologies and new knowledge… Sustainable economic growth requires innovation and innovation cannot be decoupled from the process of creative destruction that replaces the old with the new in the economic domain and thus destabilizes established power relations in the political domain », they write.

Against privilege and for freedom

There is no natural process that leads to growth, prosperity and incentives to become inclusive. It is only when the elite is intelligent enough or feels sufficiently threatened that it considers it in its own interest to cede some of its power.

By Hammad Kassal, professor of economics and former vice-president of the CGEM