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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. deryugina1_BEN BIRCHALLPOOLAFP via Getty Images_ukraineflagsoldier Ben Birchall/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    Ukraine Is Far From Doomed

    Tatyana Deryugina & Anastassia Fedyk

    When comparing Ukraine’s situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible. But it will require the West, and the US in particular, to put aside domestic political squabbles and muster the political will to provide Ukraine with consistent and robust military and financial assistance.

    compare Russia's full-scale invasion to World War II and see reason to hope – as long as aid keeps flowing.
  2. glennerster2_Scott OlsonGetty Images)_vaccines Scott Olson/Getty Images)

    The Pandemic Financing Developing Countries Need

    Rachel Glennerster urges multilateral development banks to establish mechanisms that enable at-risk vaccine purchases.
  3. krueger74_AFP via Getty Images_nigercoup AFP via Getty Images

    The Geopolitics of Africa’s Debt Crisis

    Anne O. Krueger urges developed countries to back efforts by the IMF and the World Bank to promote growth-enhancing reforms.
  4. palacio156_ Georg Moritzpicture alliance via Getty Images_immigation Georg Moritz/picture alliance via Getty Images

    Why the EU’s New Migration Pact Matters

    Ana Palacio applauds the pragmatic coalition-building, especially by Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, that enabled the deal.
  5. kirchschlager1_Fatih AktasAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_AI Fatih AktasAnadolu Agency via Getty Images

    AI Needs UN Oversight

    Peter G. Kirchschläger calls for the creation of a watchdog – similar to the IAEA – that employs a human rights-based approach.
  6. chellaney_VCGVCG via Getty Images_china military VCG/VCG via Getty Images

    The West Is Hastening Its Own Decline

    Brahma Chellaney argues that the unprecedented US and European sanctions against Russia are backfiring.
  7. zizek29_Sebastian Gollnowpicture alliance via Getty Images_palestine congress germany Sebastian Gollnowpicture alliance via Getty Images

    Canceling Palestine

    Slavoj Žižek

    Current debates about Israeli policy are rife with double standards, leading to absurd decisions like Germany’s recent cancellation of a pro-Palestinian gathering. By quashing legitimate speech and assembly, an Israel-aligned establishment risks inciting precisely the kind of anti-Semitism that it wants to prevent.

    worries that the double standards applied on Israel’s behalf will lead to an anti-Semitic backlash.
  8. ackerman2_Brian van der Brug  Los Angeles Times via Getty Images_preschool Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    America’s Childcare Is Unfit for the Postmodern Age

    Bruce Ackerman urges US President Joe Biden to put universal preschool at the center of his re-election campaign.
  9. acemoglu72_ Hulton ArchiveGetty Images_cottonhandweaving Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    History Already Tells Us the Future of AI

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

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