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Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu

Writing for PS since 2012
66 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. The Wrong BRICS Expansion
    acemoglu64_GIANLUIGI GUERCIAPOOLAFP via Getty Images_brics GIanluigi Guercia/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    The Wrong BRICS Expansion

    Aug 31, 2023 Daron Acemoglu argues that the group's enlargement is a step in the wrong direction for emerging economies.

  2. The Hollywood Writers’ AI Fight Is Everyone’s Fight
    acemoglu63_David McNewGetty Images_wga strike ai David McNew/Getty Images

    The Hollywood Writers’ AI Fight Is Everyone’s Fight

    Aug 2, 2023 Daron Acemoglu, et al. think that knowledge workers who still have a voice can steer managers away from pursuing mindless automation.

  3. After Affirmative Action
    acemoglu62_Anna MoneymakerGetty Images_affirmativeaction Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    After Affirmative Action

    Jul 11, 2023 Daron Acemoglu proposes a hybrid college admissions system in the US, based on both test scores and weighted lotteries.

  4. Would AI-Enabled Communism Work?
    acemoglu61_NicoElNinoGetty Images_AIdataorganizing NicoElNino/Getty Images

    Would AI-Enabled Communism Work?

    Jun 28, 2023 Daron Acemoglu thinks recent breakthroughs pose new challenges to old assumptions about optimal economic organization.

  5. Will Democracies Stand Up to Big Brother?
    johnson165_Kevin FrayerGetty Images_facerecognition Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

    Will Democracies Stand Up to Big Brother?

    Jun 12, 2023 Simon Johnson, et al. urge policymakers to head off the rapid worldwide expansion of AI-enhanced surveillance.

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  1. kisilowski8_ Zuzana GogovaGetty Images_fico Zuzana Gogova/Getty Images

    Can National Reconciliation Defeat Populism?

    Maciej Kisilowski & Anna Wojciuk

    For the US, Slovakia's general election may produce another unreliable allied government. But instead of turning a blind eye to such allies, as President Joe Biden has been doing with Poland, or confronting them with an uncompromising stance, the US should spearhead efforts to help mend flawed democracies.

    reflect on the outcome of Slovakia's general election in the run-up to Poland's decisive vote.
  2. nye247_ LEAH MILLISPOOLAFP via Getty Images_blinkenchina Leah Millis/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

    Not Destined for War

    Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

    If the United States maintains its alliances, invests in itself, and avoids unnecessary provocations, it can reduce the probability of falling into either a cold war or a hot war with China. But to formulate an effective strategy, it will have to eschew familiar but misleading historical analogies.

    rejects historical analogies implying that zero-sum conflict between the US and China is inevitable.
  3. james210_KAY NIETFELDPOOLAFP via Getty Images_scholzxi Kay Nietfeld/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    Is “Peace Through Commerce” Dead?

    Harold James doubts that new conflicts and rivalries justify a full-scale rejection of European-style economic engagement.
  4. khrushcheva171_MIKHAIL METZELPOOLAFP via Getty Images_putinkim Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    Putin and Kim’s Cartoon Summit

    Nina L. Khrushcheva thinks that Russia's recent meeting with North Korea was intended primarily as a warning to the South.
  5. haykel18_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_mbs Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

    Saudi Arabia’s New Nationalism

    Bernard Haykel explains the reasoning behind the Kingdom's ongoing domestic- and foreign-policy transformation.
  6. wagner22_Lukas SchulzeGetty Images_pollution Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

    The Green Growth Mindset

    Gernot Wagner sees doctrinaire debates about capitalism as irrelevant or even deleterious to the decarbonization effort.
  7. mallochbrown17_GIANLUIGI GUERCIAAFP via Getty Images_africawomenpolitics Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images

    Africa Is the Future of Multilateralism

    Mark Malloch-Brown explains why the continent should be at the forefront of efforts to bring about international reforms.
  8. op_yi2_PEDRO PARDOAFP via Getty Images_chinahousing Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

    A Chinese Bubble Long in the Making

    Yi Fuxian traces the long roots of the country's mounting economic and financial problems.
  9. bp industrial policy Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

    Industrial Policy Is Back

    From semiconductors to electric vehicles, governments are identifying the strategic industries of the future and intervening to support them – abandoning decades of neoliberal orthodoxy in the process. Are industrial policies the key to tackling twenty-first-century economic challenges or a recipe for market distortions and lower efficiency?

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