The 21st Circle presents:Why Nations Fail: The origins of Power, Prosperity and PovertyWhy Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?Daron Acemoglu conclusively shows that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu marshalls extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:- China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?- Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?- What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity?Speaker: Topic Introduction: Alexandru Badescu, Director - Eneria Video speaker: Daron Acemoglu, Economist & Professor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology