Economia
Cant We All Be More Like Scandinavians? Asymmetric
Growth and Institutions in an Interdependent World
Daron Acemoglu
MIT
James A. Robinson
Harvard
Thierry Verdier
Paris School of Economics
September 2012.
Abstract
Because of their more limited inequality and more comprehensive social welfare systems,
many perceive average welfare to be higher in Scandinavian societies than in the United States.
Why then does the United States not adopt Scandinavian-style institutions? More generally,
in an interdependent world, would we expect all countries to adopt the same institutions? To
provide theoretical answers to this question, we develop a simple model of economic growth
in a world in which all countries bene t and potentially contribute to advances in the world
technology frontier. A greater gap of incomes between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs
(thus greater inequality) increases entrepreneurial e¤ort and hence a countrys contribution to
the world technology frontier. We show that, under plausible assumptions, the world equilibrium
is asymmetric: some countries will opt for a type of cutthroatcapitalism that generates greater
inequality and more innovation and will become the technology leaders, while others will free-
ride on the cutthroat incentives of the leaders and choose a more cuddly form of capitalism.
Paradoxically, those with cuddly reward structures, though poorer, may have higher welfare than
cutthroat capitalists; but in the world equilibrium, it is not a best response for the cutthroat
capitalists to switch to a more cuddly form of capitalism. We also show that domestic constraints
from social democratic parties or unions may be bene cial for a country because they prevent
cutthroat capitalism domestically, instead inducing other countries to play this role.
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O estado de bem-estar e inovação
Cant We All Be More Like Scandinavians? Asymmetric
Growth and Institutions in an Interdependent World
Daron Acemoglu
MIT
James A. Robinson
Harvard
Thierry Verdier
Paris School of Economics
September 2012.
Abstract
Because of their more limited inequality and more comprehensive social welfare systems,
many perceive average welfare to be higher in Scandinavian societies than in the United States.
Why then does the United States not adopt Scandinavian-style institutions? More generally,
in an interdependent world, would we expect all countries to adopt the same institutions? To
provide theoretical answers to this question, we develop a simple model of economic growth
in a world in which all countries bene t and potentially contribute to advances in the world
technology frontier. A greater gap of incomes between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs
(thus greater inequality) increases entrepreneurial e¤ort and hence a countrys contribution to
the world technology frontier. We show that, under plausible assumptions, the world equilibrium
is asymmetric: some countries will opt for a type of cutthroatcapitalism that generates greater
inequality and more innovation and will become the technology leaders, while others will free-
ride on the cutthroat incentives of the leaders and choose a more cuddly form of capitalism.
Paradoxically, those with cuddly reward structures, though poorer, may have higher welfare than
cutthroat capitalists; but in the world equilibrium, it is not a best response for the cutthroat
capitalists to switch to a more cuddly form of capitalism. We also show that domestic constraints
from social democratic parties or unions may be bene cial for a country because they prevent
cutthroat capitalism domestically, instead inducing other countries to play this role.
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- Ha-joon Chang. 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Sumário do novo livro de HA-JOON CHANG. 23 Things They Don’t Tell You about Capitalism. Ver entrevista do autor na Globonews no link abaixo http://globotv.globo.com/globonews/milenio/t/programas/v/economista-sul-coreano-avalia-os-desafios-do-atual-sistema-capitalista/2132771/...
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Africa: A Tragic Continent By Walter E. Williams October 28, 2014 Poverty is not a cause but a result of Africa’s problems. What African countries need the West cannot provide. They need personal liberty. That means a political system in which...
- O Modelo Sueco
The Swedish model for economic recovery Sweden was the world’s third-richest country in 1968 but became a massive welfare state in the 1970s and 1980s and a prototype for how not to run an economy. It slid to No. 17 in the global income rankings...
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Endgame: The End of the Debt SuperCycle and How It Changes Everything Greece isn’t the only country drowning in debt. The Debt Supercycle—when the easily managed, decades-long growth of debt results in a massive sovereign debt and credit crisis—is...
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Política é o principal impedimento ao crescimento e desenvolvimento dos países, de acordo com o economista Daron Acemoglu e o cientista político Jim Robinson, em seu novo livro "Why Nations Fail": "From Adam Smith and Max Weber to the current day,...