The New Science of Political Economy featuring James Robinson

unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc | 26 April 2023 | 0h 49m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with James Robinson about his books Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor, co-authored with Daron Acemoglu. Explores the correlation between inclusive political institutions and economic growth and prosperity and why the absence of state capacity in developing nations is a major contributing factor to their economic struggles. Highlights the necessity for a genuine debate on whether strong governments and effective state institutions facilitate or stifle independence and innovation.

See also the James Robinson interviews with The Good Fight and Social Science Bites and the Rocking Our Priors interview with Daron Acemoglu.

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So Much of the World Economy Has Been Going in Reverse

Odd Lots | 17 April 2023 | 0h 45m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Henry Williams and David Oks about their article The Long, Slow Death of Global Development. Backgrounds that while the world has got richer, many countries around the world have seen stagnation or outright reversal – particularly once you exclude East Asia. Argues that traditional development models, particularly those built around manufacturing, have failed much of the world, with little prospect of improvement anytime soon.

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Ashoka Mody on India is Broken

Top Traders Unplugged | 22 March 2023 | 1h 04m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Ashoka Mody about his book India is Broken: A People Betrayed, Independence to Today. Argues that there are two Indias, a successful, highly skilled and educated elite and a billion-plus population that remains very poor. Suggests that this dangerous equilibrium is maintained by a close link between the government, big business and, in some cases, organized crime. This association produces projects that attract capital and headlines but leaves an employment deficit of over 100 million jobs.

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Brad DeLong on Intellectual and Technical Progress

Conversations with Tyler | 2 February 2023 | 0h 47m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Brad DeLong about his book Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century. Discusses what can really be gleaned from the fragmentary economics statistics of the late 19th century, the remarkable changes that occurred from 1870–1920, the astonishing flourishing of German universities in the 19th century, why investment banking allowed America and Germany to pull ahead of Britain economically, what enabled the Royal Society to become a force for progress, what Keynes got wrong, what Hayek got right, whether the middle-income trap persists, and more.

 

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Stefan Dercon on Gambling on Development

Reading Our Times | 29 November 2022 | 0h 35m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Stefan Dercon about his book Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose. Offers a framework to anticipate where aid works to develop an economy rather than prop up despotic rule. Argues that successful aid requires receiving elites willing to gamble on a growth-based future.

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Why Does Rwanda Have a Strong State While CAR is War-Torn?

Rocking Our Priors | 26 January 2023 | 0h 51m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Louisa Lombard tracing the comparative histories of Rwanda and the Central African Republic. Covers Islamic raiding, colonialism and multi-party democracy. Draws from her book The Hunting Game: Raiding Politics in the Central African Republic.

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Patrick Chung on South Korea and Globalization

Peoples & Things | 18 October 2021 | 0h 58m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Patrick Chung about his research on the rise of shipping and manufacturing in South Korea. Argues that the US Department of Defense played a major role in globalisation and especially the industrialisation of South Korea.

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Education, Electricity, Fertility, and Economic Growth with Charlie Robertson

Charter Cities Podcast | 3 October 2022 | 0h 51m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Charlie Robertson about his book The Time-Travelling Economist: Why Education, Electricity and Fertility Are Key to Escaping Poverty. Delves into the history of South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the West, explaining why some countries have flourished while others have floundered. Argues that countries that don’t get their fertility rates below 3 children per woman and their adult literacy rates above 70% are doomed to remain trapped in poverty.

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