James A. Robinson
Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor and University Professor; Institute Director of The Pearson InstitutePublications
The Political Economy of Latin America: New Visions
Citation “The Political Economy of Latin America: New Visions,” with José Luis Falconi (2021). Working Paper. Download (PDF) The Political Economy of Latin America: New Visions Abstract Latin American under-development has been fundamentally determined by a political...
Culture, Institutions and Social Equilibria: A Framework
Citation “Culture, Institutions and Social Equilibria: A Framework,” with Daron Acemoglu (2024). Working Paper Download (PDF) Culture, Institutions, and Social Equilibria: A Framework Abstract This paper proposes a new framework for studying the interplay between...
Africa’s Latent Assets
Citation “Africa's Latent Assets,” with Soeren Henn (2021). Working Paper. Download (PDF) Africa's Latent Assets Abstract Despite the past centuries’ economic setbacks and challenges, are there reasons for optimism about Africa’s economic prospects? We provide a...
Genetic legacy of state centralization in the Kuba Kingdom of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Citation van Dorp, Lucy, Sara Lowes, Jonathan L. Weigel, Naser Ansari-Pour, Saioa López, Javier Mendoza-Revilla, James A. Robinson, Joseph Henrich, Mark G. Thomas, Nathan Nunn, and Garrett Hellenthal. 2019. “Genetic legacy of state centralization in the Kuba Kingdom...
The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
Citation 2019. The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty. by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. New York: Penguin. Abstract In Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson argued that countries rise and fall...
Trust in State and Non-State Actors: Evidence from Dispute Resolution in Pakistan
Citation “Trust in State and Non-State Actors: Evidence from Dispute Resolution in Pakistan,” with Daron Acemoglu, MIT, Ali Cheema, LUMS, and Asim Khwaja (Harvard), NBDER Working Paper #24611, forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy. Download (PDF) Trust in...
How Different Social Scientists Think
Download (PDF) How Different Social Scientists Think Abstract I illustrate how, based on my personal experience, different social scientists would study the same question. I argue that each brings different paradigms, perspectives, preconceptions and methodologies,...
The Weak State Trap
Citation Fergusson, Leopoldo, Carlos A. Molina and James A. Robinson. Working Paper. “The Weak State Trap”. Download (PDF) The Weak State Trap Abstract Development outcomes come in ‘clusters’ that seem difficult to exit. Using original data from Colombia, we present...
Power and Persistence: The Indigenous Roots of Representative Democracy
Citation “Power and Persistence: The Indigenous Roots of Representative Democracy,” (2019) (joint with Jeanet Bentzen Sinding and Jacob Gerner Hariri, University of Copenhagen), Economic Journal, 129, 618, 1, 678-714. Download (PDF) Power and Persistence: The...
Beyond Modernization Theory
Citation Acemoglu, Daron, and James A Robinson. 2018. "Beyond Modernization Theory." Annals of Comparative Democratization 16(3): 26-31. Download (PDF) Beyond Modernization Theory