News / Article by A. Shastitko in Voprosy Ekonomiki Journal

Article "Between the Scylla of despotism and the Charybdis of social norms (On the book by D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson “Narrow corridor: States, societies and the fate of freedom”)" by professor A. Shastitko published in Voprosy Ekonomiki Journal (2020;(1):145-156).

Abstract

Why is it that in the history of mankind the economic prosperity of countries, and even over a relatively long time interval, is quite rare? Acemoglu and Robinson (AR) proposed a fresh look at the problem in their new book “Narrow corridor: States, societies and the fate of freedom”. Here we examine the main elements of the conceptual framework in which different countries are located on a few subsets — despotic, constrained, absent, paper Leviathan — and also the transition of a country from one subset to another based on the application of the “Red Queen effect” is explained. We evaluate the explanatory potential of the heuristic model of AR in comparison with the approach of North, Wallis and Weingast to the study of social orders of limited and open access. Critical comments on the presented concept are formulated.

Keywords

despotism, shackled Leviathan, Red Queen effect, liberty, state, social norms, social orders

The article can be found at Voprosy Ekonomiki Journal web-site