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Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu

Writing for PS since 2012
74 commentaries

Daron Acemoglu, Institute Professor of Economics at MIT, is a co-author (with James A. Robinson) of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty (Profile, 2019) and a co-author (with Simon Johnson) of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (PublicAffairs, 2023).

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  1. History Already Tells Us the Future of AI
    acemoglu72_ Hulton ArchiveGetty Images_cottonhandweaving Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    History Already Tells Us the Future of AI

    Apr 23, 2024 Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson find policy lessons for the 2020s in the work of the early-nineteenth-century economist David Ricardo.

  2. Are We Ready for AI Creative Destruction?
    acemoglu71_tieroGetty Images_creativedestruction tiero/Getty Images

    Are We Ready for AI Creative Destruction?

    Apr 9, 2024 Daron Acemoglu proposes three principles to ensure that the benefits of the next wave of disruptive innovation outweigh the costs.

  3. What It Takes to Build Democratic Institutions
    acemoglu70_JAVIER TORRESAFP via Getty Images_chileconstitution Javier Torres/AFP via Getty Images

    What It Takes to Build Democratic Institutions

    Jan 16, 2024 Daron Acemoglu sees Chile's flawed efforts to draft a new constitution as a lesson in what to avoid.

  4. Clarifying America’s Great Inequality Debate
    acemoglu68_Getty Images_income inequality Getty Images

    Clarifying America’s Great Inequality Debate

    Jan 3, 2024 Daron Acemoglu thinks warring academic studies are confusing several technical issues and obscuring the larger problem.

  5. Dark Offshore Money Threatens Democracy
    james173_Getty Images_offshore accounts Getty Images

    Dark Offshore Money Threatens Democracy

    Jan 2, 2024 Simon Johnson & Daron Acemoglu call for a crackdown on the dozens of tax havens around the world and reform of financial secrecy laws.

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  1. velasco147_Tomas CuestaGetty Images_argentinapesos Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images

    Argentina’s Inflation Paradoxes

    Andrés Velasco asks whether President Javier Milei's administration can sustain its initial economic-policy successes.
  2. buruma213_Stephanie KeithGetty Images_palestine college Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

    The Privileged Gaza Protesters

    Ian Buruma argues that fear of losing rank could be driving students to demonstrate their intersectional bona fides.
  3. krueger54_ Anna MoneymakerGetty Images_CHIPS Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    What Mission-Driven Government Means

    Mariana Mazzucato & Rainer Kattel correct common misconceptions about a particular form of state participation in the economy.
  4. haldar33_Sean GallupGetty Images for Burda Media_kahneman Sean Gallup/Getty Images for Burda Media

    The Psychologist Who Convinced Economists that to Err Is Human

    Antara Haldar reflects on the pioneering work and legacy of one of the world’s most influential social scientists.
  5. bremmer29_Nathan HowardGetty Images_ukraine aid Nathan Howard/Getty Images
    Free to read

    Will the Renewed US Support for Ukraine Be Enough?

    Ian Bremmer

    Sixteen months of congressional inaction in the United States has left Ukrainian forces exhausted and short on ammo. Although America has now finally enacted another package of financial and military aid, the best that the Ukrainians can hope for is another stalemate, rather than another major offensive against Russian lines.

    explains how an additional $61 billion in aid and arms will, and will not, change the course of the war.
  6. hamada64_Franck Robichon - PoolGetty Images_abe Franck Robichon/Pool/Getty Images

    The Lasting Legacy of Abenomics

    Koichi Hamada highlights two important aspects of the late Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzō’s policy agenda.
  7. bollmohr2_ Dan KitwoodGetty Images_fetilizier Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
    Free to read

    Fertilizers Will Not Fix Africa’s Food Crisis

    Silke Bollmohr & Harun Warui refute the idea that industrial inputs will increase yields and alleviate hunger on the continent.
  8. qian36_ Jens Kalaenepicture alliance via Getty Images_tiktok Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images

    What TikTok Got Wrong About America

    Nancy Qian thinks the company sealed its fate by aggressively interfering in the US political process.
  9. nye257_MARK SCHIEFELBEINPOOLAFP via Getty Images_blinkenxi Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    US-China Cooperation Remains Possible

    Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

    Although the US has abandoned its policy of engagement with China, the strategy of great-power competition that has replaced it does not preclude cooperation in some areas. A good analogy is a soccer match, where two teams battle fiercely but abide by certain rules and boundaries, kicking only the ball, rather than each other.

    identifies seven areas where the two countries can still work together toward mutually beneficial outcomes.

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