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twitter.com/page_eco/statu As a critic of the New Institutionalism, I find a lot of this kind of 'institutionalism', leaving huge historical gaps, such a sign of undertheorized thinking. Sure, this map looks nice. But now look at the 2001 map:
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This map superimposes the border of the German Empire (1871-1918) on the electoral results of the 2007 Parliamentary elections in Poland. Another great example of the long term impact of past institutions. Orange/red = PO, centre right Blue = PIS, right (currently in power)
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It's just one example but it illustrates the method made popular by Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson in 2001. Crudely put, the reasoning is: <institution long ago> -> <black box> -> <cherry-picked contemporary outcome>. It's direly in need of thinking through.
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Is there an example from why nations fail that has this weakness? Though the polish example seems okay within limits. Maybe the old boundary is only evident at some sort of contemporary low tide points. Not cherry-picked so much as indicative example that there is a causal link
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Of course, it's theoretically possible it's a latent phenomenon. But that requires a substantial causal scaffolding to take seriously, which I'm not convinced is often enough provided. Same thing goes for the current fashion for finding natural experiments in institutions.
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no, he created the New Institutionalist Economic History, which extends the method much further to long-term historical questions. I've got a book on it coming out soonish.
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