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Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu

Writing for PS since 2012
55 commentaries

Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics at MIT, is co-author (with James A. Robinson) of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty (Profile, 2019) and The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty (Penguin, 2020).

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  1. China’s Economy Is Rotting from the Head
    acemoglu54_Lintao ZhangGetty Images_xi Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

    China’s Economy Is Rotting from the Head

    Oct 28, 2022 Daron Acemoglu shows why Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power is bad news for dynamism and growth.

  2. Why Businesses Misbehave
    acemoglu53_Lea SuzukiThe San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images_google Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

    Why Businesses Misbehave

    Oct 4, 2022 Daron Acemoglu thinks narratives about heroic entrepreneurs and villainous tycoons are a distraction from what matters most.

  3. The End of Real Social Networks
    acemoglu52_STRAFP via Getty Images_facebooksocialmedia STR/AFP via Getty Images

    The End of Real Social Networks

    Sep 7, 2022 Daron Acemoglu worries that digital platforms are eroding the foundations of human interaction and socialization.

  4. Why Taiwan Matters
    acemoglu51_ Central News AgencyHandoutGetty Images_pelositaiwan Central News Agency/Handout/Getty Images

    Why Taiwan Matters

    Aug 9, 2022 Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson see the island as evidence against culturally deterministic explanations of authoritarianism and democracy.

  5. Environmental Tariffs Could Be a Game Changer
    acemoglu50_Lukas SchulzeGetty Images_carbon emissions tax Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

    Environmental Tariffs Could Be a Game Changer

    Jul 25, 2022 Daron Acemoglu thinks border adjustment taxes could succeed where other climate-change mitigation policies have failed.

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  1. sierakowski91_Omar MarquesGetty Images_ukrainian refugees Omar Marques/Getty Images
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    Resentment on the Western Front

    Sławomir Sierakowski thinks the Polish public needs a more open and honest conversation about refugees before resentment spirals.
  2. vives17_ Leon NealGetty Images_ftx Leon Neal/Getty Images
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    Crypto’s Well-Worn Path to Crisis

    Xavier Vives writes that, despite the novelty of the assets, the narrative of FTX’s collapse was established long ago.
  3. roubini171_Spencer PlattGetty Images_recession looming Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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    The Unavoidable Crash

    Nouriel Roubini anticipates a stagflationary debt crisis, owing to a dangerous combination of inflation and over-borrowing.
  4. nye236_SAUL LOEBAFP via Getty Images_biden xi SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
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    War Over Taiwan?

    Joseph S. Nye, Jr. considers whether a deterrence arrangement that has worked for 50 years is still sufficient.
  5. op_livingston1_Anna MoneymakerGetty Images_fed Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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    The Contested Fed

    James Livingston

    By all accounts, central banks – particularly the Fed, because the dollar is still the world’s dominant currency – already act as investment authorities. But their recent bailouts have exacerbated economic inequality, and have done little or nothing to address climate change.

     reviews three books that, each in its own way, reveal a central truth about the world’s leading central bank.
  6. pisaniferry140_Sean GallupGetty Images_cop27 Sean GallupGetty Images
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    The Economics of Mainstreaming Climate Action

    Jean Pisani-Ferry & Selma Mahfouz identify the risks and short-term costs associated with the energy transition over the next decade.
  7. haldar15_ Tayfun CoskunAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_twitter Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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    Killing Twitter

    Antara Haldar explains what Elon Musk fundamentally misunderstands about the platform – and about free speech.
  8. emmott41_musk
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    The Napoleons of Big Tech

    Bill Emmott

    Recent events in the technology sector suggest that investors and lenders should be demanding a premium to cover the risk that a star entrepreneur will become an egomaniacal dictator. With each business cycle, it seems, old lessons must be relearned.

     sees in the industry’s harsh reckoning this year lessons that apparently can’t be learned often enough.
  9. BP - ftx NurPhoto / Contributor via Getty Images
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    The Crypto Emperor’s New Clothes

    The collapse of several crypto platforms this year – including the spectacular crash of the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX – has raised fundamental questions about the credibility of a digital innovation once hailed as the key to democratizing finance. Has crypto finally been exposed as a scam, or will a new, stronger crypto industry emerge from the current turmoil?

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