"Somewhere in the Middle You Can Survive": Review of The Narrow Corridor by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

Avinash Dixit

Journal of Economic Literature, 2021, vol. 59, issue 4, 1361-75

Abstract: This article reviews Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson's book The Narrow Corridor. They depict a constant tussle between "society," which wants liberty but cannot sustain order, and "state," which maintains order but grows oppressive. I argue that the book has a huge theme and an impressive historical sweep of supportive examples, but leaves many open questions. The two conceptual categories should be unpacked to examine complex interactions within and across them, and other examples that counter the authors' thesis should be reckoned with. However, the authors deserve congratulations for a brilliantly written and thought-provoking book that will inspire much future research.

JEL-codes: N10 O43 P51 Y30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jel.20201629 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jel.20201629.ds (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:jeclit:v:59:y:2021:i:4:p:1361-75

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

DOI: 10.1257/jel.20201629

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Literature is currently edited by Steven Durlauf

More articles in Journal of Economic Literature from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().