James A. Robinson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
James A. Robinson
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Robinson at 2024 Nobel Week
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| Born | 1960 (age 64–65) |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom American |
| Education | London School of Economics (BSc) University of Warwick (MA) Yale University (PhD) |
| Awards | Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2024) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | The dynamic enforcement of implicit labor contracts under asymmetric information (1993) |
| Doctoral advisor | Truman Bewley |
James Alan Robinson (born 1960) is a British-American economist and political scientist. He is a professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. There, he also leads a center focused on global conflicts. Before this, he taught at Harvard University.
James Robinson has written several books with Daron Acemoglu, including The Narrow Corridor and Why Nations Fail. In 2024, Robinson, Acemoglu, and Simon Johnson won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. They received this award for their studies comparing why some countries are rich and others are poor.
Contents
Education
James Robinson studied economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He earned his first degree there in 1982. He then got a Master's degree from the University of Warwick in 1986. In 1993, he completed his PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) at Yale University. A PhD is the highest university degree you can get.
Career
James Robinson's main research areas are political economy and how countries develop. He studies how politics and economics affect each other.
In 2004, Robinson became a professor at Harvard University. He held important teaching positions there until 2015. On July 1, 2015, he became a University Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. He also holds a special title related to global conflict studies. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the National University of Mongolia.
He has done research in many countries around the world. These include Botswana, Chile, Haiti, the Philippines, and South Africa. He also teaches every summer in Bogotá, Colombia.
In March 2023, James Robinson met with students and leaders in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He talked about how countries can build strong, fair systems, especially after being colonies. He also discussed parts of his book Why Nations Fail that mention Uzbekistan.
He often works with his long-time co-author Daron Acemoglu. They met while studying at the London School of Economics.
Research
Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
In this 2006 book, James Robinson and Daron Acemoglu explore how democratic societies are created and become strong. They suggest that democracy lasts when powerful groups don't have a strong reason to overthrow it. This depends on things like:
- the strength of regular people working together (civil society)
- how political systems are set up
- the type of economic problems a country faces
- how much wealth inequality there is
- the kind of economy a country has
- how much a country is connected to the rest of the world
Why Nations Fail
In their 2012 book, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, Acemoglu and Robinson argue that for a country to grow and invent new things, it needs political stability. This means the government and society are generally steady and not constantly changing. They also say a country needs "creative destruction." This is when old ways of doing things are replaced by new, better ones.
They explain that this "creative destruction" can only happen if there are rules against giving special rights to a few powerful companies (monopolies). For example, they say the Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain because the Bill of Rights 1689 in England created such rules. They give an example of a steamboat built in 1705 by Denis Papin. It was destroyed by a boatmen's guild in Germany because it threatened their old way of working. Papin went to London, where his ideas were published. Later, Thomas Newcomen used Papin's work to create successful steam engines.
Acemoglu and Robinson believe that differences in how rich or poor countries are come from their political and economic systems. They do not think that culture, weather, or geography are the main reasons for these differences. For instance, they note that Soviet Russia grew fast at first by copying advanced technologies. But by the 1970s, its growth slowed down because it lacked "creative destruction."
The Narrow Corridor
In their 2019 book, The Narrow Corridor. States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty, Acemoglu and Robinson argue that a truly free society exists when the power of the government and the power of the people are roughly equal. Neither side is too strong or too weak compared to the other.
A Critique of Modernization Theory
In their research, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson have looked at "modernization theory." This theory suggests that as countries become richer, they naturally become more democratic. However, Acemoglu and Robinson argue that while rich countries often are democracies, being rich doesn't automatically cause a country to become democratic. They say that other things, like a country's institutions and culture, are more important in shaping its political path. They believe there isn't just one fixed way for all countries to develop politically.
See also
In Spanish: James A. Robinson para niños
- Critical juncture theory
- Economic history
- Environmental determinism
- Institutional economics
- New institutional economics
