A New Way to See: Comparative Thought Card - Institutions, Pathways and Prosperity (Nobel 2024 Economics)

🟦 COMPARATIVE THOUGHT CARD: INSTITUTIONS, PATHWAYS & PROSPERITY

(Acemoglu, Johnson & Robinson)

I. CENTRAL QUESTION

Why do some nations become rich and others remain poor, even with similar resources or geography?

II. SHARED FRAMEWORK

Institutions (the formal and informal “rules of the game”) are the decisive force shaping development, innovation, and distribution.
Colonial origins—especially disease environments—determined settlement and thus initial institutional design.
Inclusive institutions empower broad participation and adapt; extractive institutions concentrate power and stifle opportunity.
Historical “paths”: Small differences in early choices, magnified by feedback loops, produce vast, persistent divergence.

III. DISTINCT CONTRIBUTIONS

Author	Key Lecture Focus	Signature Metaphor/Concept	Modern Relevance
Acemoglu	Institutions, Technology and Prosperity	Utility-Technology Possibilities Frontier	AI, innovation, inclusive governance
Johnson	Disease, Mortality, & Creation of Institutions	Disease-driven Institutional Forks	Health, tech inflection points
Robinson	Paths Towards the Periphery	Struggle for Inclusion, Periphery Dynamics	Democracy, reform, agency

IV. VISUAL TIMELINE/INFOMAP

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1. Disease Environment → 2. Settler Mortality/Strategy → 3. Institutional Choice
         │                               │                           │
     (Johnson)                    (Johnson, Robinson)         (Acemoglu, Robinson)
         ▼                               ▼                           ▼
 Inclusive vs. Extractive Institutions → Path Dependency → Reversal of Fortune
         ▼                                                          │
Technology & Political Agency                                      │
         ▼                                                          │
      Broad Prosperity or Persistent Periphery   ◀──────────────────┘

Feedback Loops: Institutions influence technology adoption, which reshapes institutions over time.
Critical Junctures: Wars, pandemics, or technological disruptions can create “windows” for institutional change.

V. RESONANT THEMES

Agency: Inclusive institutions are not bestowed by elites but achieved through collective struggle and negotiation.
Persistence: Extractive systems, once established, are hard to dislodge without coordinated action.
Modern Parallels: Digital “colonialism,” AI regulation, and global inequality echo the old logics—who sets the rules and who benefits?

VI. KEY VISUAL/METAPHOR

Forked River/Pathways: Early institutional choices split societies onto radically different long-term courses.
Mirror Cities (Nogales, etc.): Near-identical geography, but split destinies due to divergent institutions.

VII. REFLECTIVE PROMPT

Where do you see “critical junctures” in today’s technological or social landscape? What forms of collective agency could shift your own community or society from an extractive to an inclusive trajectory?