First Writing Assignment

Daron's Acemoglu's "Root Causes" provides an overview of his influential research

with James Robinson and Simon Johnson on the causes of the huge gap in living

standards and levels of development between rich and poor countries. In this short

writing assignment, I would like you to provide a summary of their argument. In

your essay, please be sure to address the following questions:

1. What are the alternative candidates to explain differences in prosperity

between countries?

2. What are the characteristics of good institutions?

3. Why are institutions persistent and often unchanging?

4. What is the "natural experiment" that Acemoglu et. al. exploit? How does this

help "identify" the role of institutions?

5. What are the potential policy implications of their analysis?

First Writing Assignment Daron's Acemoglu's \"Root Causes\" provides an overview of his inuential research with James Robinson and Simon Johnson on the causes of the huge gap in living standards and levels of development between rich and poor countries. In this short writing assignment, I would like you to provide a summary of their argument. In your essay, please be sure to address the following questions: 1. What are the alternative candidates to explain differences in prosperity between countries? 2. What are the characteristics of good institutions? 3. Why are institutions persistent and often unchanging? 4. What is the \"natural experiment\" that Acemoglu et al. exploit? How does this help \"identify\" the role of institutions? 5. What are the potential policy implications of their analysis? Your review is limited to 500 words, and is due May 15, 2020