logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2024
1h 12m

Why Nations Fail

ANDREW HEATON
About this episode

How do the histories of countries set up the greater context in which they become rich or poor?

Daron Acemoglu believes it boils down to whether or not they’ve been organized according to extractive or inclusive institutions.

He joins to discuss his book, Why Nations Fail.

Up next
Aug 6
Greg Lukianoff is Worried About Free Speech
Greg Lukianoff is the President of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and along with Nadine Strossen, is the author of "The War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech--And Why They Fail." 
1h 27m
Jul 31
But Gene Epstein Hates the Fed
Does the Fed achieve its own stated goals? What are underlying ethical or practical issues with it? Soho Forum founder and economist Gene Epstein joins to make the case against the Federal Reserve. The SoHo Forum: https://www.thesohoforum.org/ Uncut Gene Epstein interview on the ... Show More
1h 12m
Jul 30
What the Hell Does the Federal Reserve Do?
What is the purported aim of the Federal Reserve? Why is it independent, or shoot for 2% targeted inflation? In part one of our series on the Fed, Jeremiah Johnson of the New Liberal podcast joins to explain, discuss, and field objections. 
1h 29m
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2018
James Robinson on Why Nations Fail
Metrics on the average living standards from the best-off countries in the world (say, Norway) to the worst-off (perhaps the Central African Republic) vary by a factor of 40 to 50. So notes James Robinson, the Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict at the Un ... Show More
18m 19s
Jul 2021
150 - Rich Man/Poor Man with Stephanie Kelton & Marla Dukharan
Up here, in what used to be called the "1st World", the pandemic has focused economists' minds on what can be done to change our thinking after Covid has passed. M.M.T. sets out new economic opportunities available, for example, to the the US. But not all countries have the luxur ... Show More
50m 38s
May 2024
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on the White House’s New China Tariffs
Increasingly, countries are closing off their economics and questioning the case for globalization. But where does this leave the Bretton Woods institutions intended to facilitate peace and prosperity through trade? World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala jo ... Show More
36m 36s
Feb 2025
How America Ceased to Be the Land of Opportunity (with Yoni Appelbaum)
This week, Nick and Goldy are joined by journalist and historian Yoni Appelbaum to discuss his forthcoming book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. They explore how decades of failed economic policies and zoning regulations have ... Show More
44m 5s
Jan 2025
The Hidden History of Eurodollars, Part 1: Cold War Origins
At more than $10 trillion outstanding, the eurodollar market is one of the biggest forms of shadow banking activity out there. It's also one of the most interesting markets in existence, allowing non-US banks to hold and lend offshore dollars that effectively sit outside of the F ... Show More
33m 52s
Sep 2024
How The World Sees The US: The Art of Diplomacy
How did Egypt and Israel come to an agreement at Camp David in 1979? How did the USSR come to allow the operation of NATO troops in East Germany? Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat has played a leading role in the United States' diplomatic negotiations whilst serving in six Presidential ... Show More
37m 16s
Jun 2024
How to Fix Capitalism
Is capitalism broken? A growing number of Americans think so amid declining social mobility and rising inequality. According to investor Ruchir Sharma, author of What Went Wrong With Capitalism, the United States has gone on a decades-long debt binge, with too many regulations an ... Show More
42m 24s
Sep 2024
Plainly reigns but on a plane to Spain: Venezuela’s leader
Nicolás Maduro has stolen an election, again—but this time the rightful winner felt so threatened that he has fled to Spain. We ask what happens next. A valedictory dispatch from our global business columnist asks why the forces of “creative destruction” seem to have faded (10:27 ... Show More
24m 14s
Apr 2024
Jeffry Frieden: How Politics and Economics Interact
Even optimal economic policies create winners and losers, and that’s where politics steps in. Trade liberalization is an example of a policy that can make a country better off as a whole, but what happens to workers who lose out to cheaper goods? Jeffry Frieden says while politic ... Show More
23m 38s
Aug 3
Trump’s Sweeping Tariffs
Today on the show, President Trump’s sweeping new tariffs go into effect this week. Fareed speaks with Zanny Minton Beddoes, the editor-in-chief of The Economist, and Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of the conservative think-tank American Compass, about what this trade war ... Show More
41m 52s