'A breathtaking tour of the history and future of technology' Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo A bold new interpretation of why technology benefits the elites - and how we must reshape the path of innovation to create true shared prosperity. A thousand years of history make one thing clear: progress is not automatic but depends on the choices we make. Much of the wealth generated by agricultural advances during the Middle Ages was captured by the Church while the peasants starved. The first hundred years of industrialization delivered stagnant incomes for workers, while making a few people rich. Throughout the world today, digital technologies and artificial intelligence increase inequality and undermine democracy. It doesn't have to be this way.

Why are some nations more prosperous than others? Why Nations Fail sets out to answer this question, with a compelling and elegantly argued new theory: that it is not down to climate, geography or culture, but because of institutions. Drawing on an extraordinary range of contemporary and historical examples, from ancient Rome through the Tudors to modern-day China, leading academics Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson show that to invest and prosper, people need to know that if they work hard, they can make money and actually keep it - and this means sound institutions that allow virtuous circles of innovation, expansion and peace. Based on fifteen years of research, and answering the competing arguments of authors ranging from Max Weber to Jeffrey Sachs and Jared Diamond...