A short review: “ Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty” by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

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Economists Acemoglu and Robinson are not known as Sinologists. But they strike me with their main line of argument, which echoes this time-honored Chinese observation: 

“Bad citrus trees may grow from good citrus seeds if planted on the wrong side of the Huai river (橘越淮而枳).”

To the authors, the above Chinese saying must make a good deal of sense. 

To dig deeper, the heart of the matter is whether we are living under an extractive system. By extractive system, the authors mean tyranny. Under tyranny, you do not have a say in anything that really matters to you. You do not actually own anything. Ask Jack Ma.

Acemoglu and Robinson published their book in 2012. Remarkably, they already predicted the PRC's decline behind its glittering facade.

In the history of China, the ending of a dynasty could be slow and painful. It did not matter how hard the last emperor was trying to impress heaven and earth that he was in control of everything.

—Lingyang Jiang