Author: Daron Acemoglu
Publisher: Currency
ISBN: 0307719227
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 546
Get Book Here
Book Description
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.
Author: Lou Morris
Publisher: Lou Morris
ISBN: 146358752X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 408
Get Book Here
Book Description
It's a story as old as time--or at least ten minutes. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy loses job. Boy loses car. Boy loses mind and writes an awful novel about wizards and talking eyes. It's tragic, really...
Author: Dale Rominger
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1456802461
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Get Book Here
Book Description
In Notes from 39,000 Feet Dale Rominger has put together a collection of poignant observations from his experiences around the world. With extraordinary clarity, he describes both everyday moments and historical events, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first elections in South Africa. In describing personal encounters in places as far afield as Reykjavik and Luanda and reflecting on social and political events from Harare to Seoul, Rominger presents an array of details which most of us would miss and interprets them in such a way that they haunt us long after we finish reading. Perhaps this is the true value of his work; it is not just a fascinating read, it challenges us to question. In the first section of the book, Making Meaning, the Notes are presented in chronological order, beginning in Reykjavik in 1986, passing through places such as Harare, Varanasi, Gaza City, Seoul, Istanbul, Prague, San Salvador and Kingston, and ending in London in 2010. Some Notes are transcriptions of presentations and lectures given at international gatherings and events. Some are journalistic reflections and some sermon-like meditations. Some are directly associated with church work and others are not. Others are reflections on books he came across on his travels. While there is no central theme, there is a background hum that is hard to miss, a hum that hints at ethical, philosophical, theological points of view that make up a system of meaning thoughts, feelings, beliefs, observations, understandings, all of which combine to reveal a way of seeing the world and how we choose to live within it. The last section of the book, Making Believe, is comprised of two fictitious short stories. The first, The Poetry of Being Human, was written after Romingers return from Central America. The second, Martha Goes to Paris, is a response to George W. Bushs rightwing Christian fundamentalist America. While the first places an intense love story within the social and political upheaval, and often tragedy, of Central America in the 1980s, the second is, in Romingers words, An absurd story for an absurd time. At its heart Notes is both an observation of the world we live in and a personal journey. Rominger does not pull his punches and behind almost every word there is a shadow of anger at the injustices he has witnessed in his travels. But the book is also a personal account of the effect such a life can have on a person. He ends the chapter Swanning Around the World or Passing Through the International Non-Places of Planet Earth with these words: Either none of us is special or we are all special. But the point is, the universe, global economics, global warming, international injustice, contemporary slave trade, sex trafficking, disease, poverty, HIV/AIDS, tsunamis, hurricanes, droughts and warlords don't give a damn about us. If God does, he/she/it keeps it a good secret. [I have a] friend in Washington D.C. who...travelled for the church more than I ever have and has been around the world a couple more times than I have. I asked him once if he were happy. He said that he wasnt. That he'd seen too much and knew too much. And like me, he couldnt forget a damn thing. And yet this chapter, as well as many others, is also filled with the laughter and absurdity of life. A quick glance as the bibliography at the end of the book gives the reader some sense of its mood and tone. Rominger cites authors from Woody Allen to Don DeLillo, Chung Hyun Kyung to Paul Ricoeur, Henri Nouwen to Tony Judt. Notes from 39,000 Feet is a tribute to the worlds people in their profound striving for justice and the joy they embrace, whatever the circumstances. It is a testament to the human spirit.
Author: Jan Stankus
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 076277651X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 393
Get Book Here
Book Description
Thinking of opening your own B&B? Find out if it's really for you, then get advice on starting and maintaining your business. Advertising, promoting health and safety, managing finances, and creating an enjoyable environment for your guests are just some of the topics covered in this indispensable guide. - Start-up Expenses Worksheet Appendix of Web-based Resources - Bedroom Basics Checklist - Bathroom Basics Checklist - Marketing Plan - Self-Evaluation Quiz
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic journals
Languages : en
Pages : 576
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Questions and answers
Languages : en
Pages : 640
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Baptists
Languages : en
Pages : 732
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic journals
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Get Book Here
Book Description
Provides image and full-text online access to back issues. Consult the online table of contents for specific holdings.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 668
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Samuel Bjork
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 014310862X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Get Book Here
Book Description
International bestseller Samuel Bjork makes his US debut, a chilling and fast-paced thriller in which two detectives must hunt down a vengeful killer--and uncover the secret that ties each of them to the crime A six-year-old girl is found in the countryside, hanging lifeless from a tree and dressed in strange doll's clothes. Around her neck is a sign that says "I'm traveling alone." A special homicide unit re-opens with veteran police investigator Holger Munch at the helm. Holger's first step is to persuade the brilliant but haunted investigator Mia Kruger, who has been living on an isolated island, overcome by memories of her past. When Mia views a photograph of the crime scene and spots the number "1" carved into the dead girl's fingernail, she knows this is only the beginning. Could this killer have something to do with a missing child, abducted six years ago and never found, or with the reclusive religious community hidden in the nearby woods? Mia returns to duty to track down a revenge-driven and ruthlessly intelligent killer. But when Munch's own six-year-old granddaughter goes missing, Mia realizes that the killer's sinister game is personal, and I'm Traveling Alone races to an explosive--and shocking--conclusion.
