Governing for Prosperity

How do political institutions help promote prosperity in some countries and poverty in others? What can be done to encourage leaders to govern not for patronage but for economic growth? In this book, such distinguished political economists as Douglass North, Robert Barro, and Stephen Haber answer these questions, providing a solution to one of the most important policy puzzles of the new century: how to govern for prosperity.

The authors begin from a premise that political leaders are self-interested politicians rather than benign agents of the people they lead. When leaders depend on only a few backers to stay in power, they dole out privileges to those people, thereby dissipating their country's total resources and national growth potential. On the other hand, leaders who need large coalitions to stay in office implement policies that generally foster growth and political competition over ideas. The result is that those who promote politics that lead to stagnation tend to stay in office for a long time, and those who produce prosperity tend to lose their jo

Robert J. Barro is Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics at Harvard University, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a viewpoint columnist for Business Week Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University Yi Feng is associate professor of politics and policy at Claremont Graduate University Stephen Haber is professor of history and political science at Stanford University and Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University James D. Morrow is professor of political science at the University of Michigan Nahalel Nellis received a master's degree from Stanford University's international policy studies program and currently is studying law at Cornell University Douglass C. North, a Nobel laureate in economics, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Luce Professor of Law and Liberty at Washington University, St. Louis Armando Razo is a graduate student in political science at Stanford University Hilton L. Root is a senior fellow and director of global studies at the Milken Institute, where his research focuses on the global economy. With expertise in Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, Root has extensively studied developing countries and the relationship between their economies and political systems Randolph M. Siverson is professor of political science at the University of California, Davis Alastair Smith is assistant professor of political science at Yale University Paul J. Zak is assistant professor in the school of politics and economics at Claremont Graduate University William Summerhill is associate professor of history, University of California, Los Angeles Barry R. Weingast is senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Ward C. Krebs Family Professor, and chair, department of political science, Stanford University