Open Questions | Nobel-winning economist James Robinson on China’s place in his theory of institutions

Nobel laureate discusses his work on ‘inclusive’ vs ‘extractive’ institutions and how China fits in

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Published: 6:00am, 2 Dec 2024Updated: 12:21pm, 2 Dec 2024

James Robinson, a University of Chicago professor, was one of the three winners of the Nobel Prize for economics this year. He shared the prize for his work with two professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson – researching global inequality. He has co-authored three books with Acemoglu, including the bestseller Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, first published in 2012.

Robinson, Acemoglu and Johnson have written extensively on the relationships between political and economic institutions and wealth. They argue that states with “inclusive institutions” that uphold the rule of law and property rights – as opposed to “extractive” ones – lead to economic success.

This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here.

Your research into the relationship between institutions and economic prosperity has been front of mind among Chinese intellectuals and investors.

Some argue that your theory of a relationship between an inclusive society and prosperity is unable to explain “the China model”.

One common argument is that China reported average gross domestic product growth of 6 per cent to 7 per cent for a decade before slowing down and setting GDP growth targets of around 5 per cent. When compared with the United States, the nominal GDP growth of China may be decreasing, but when compared with all other democratic economies, it is increasing. How does this fit in with your theory?

In the late 1970s, since the period of reform initiated under Deng Xiaoping, China started growing economically, exactly because economic institutions were moved in this more inclusive direction.

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