The winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics spoke about Argentina: what he said about social inclusion

James A. Robinsonone of the economists who won the Nobel Prize in Economics this Monday, along with Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson He spoke in a note with BBC Mundo about Argentina. Asked about the countries that have been making progress in social inclusion, he pointed out that Argentina and Venezuela follow “complicated patterns.”

“Has there been any progress in the region in relation to social inclusion issues?” was asked in the note. Robinson responded: ” There has been progress in countries like Chile in recent decades, since the collapse of the dictatorship. We can think of Costa Rica or countries like Bolivia in the sense of the rise of indigenous peoples. QBut other parts of Latin America have gone in the opposite direction. Let’s think about countries like Venezuela or Argentina, which follow complicated patternsor Nicaragua and the consolidation of an autocracy in the country,” he explained.

Robinson and his colleagues were recognized Thursday for their empirical and theoretical studies exploring differences in prosperity of nations and their analysis of inequality.

The study on inequality

In the interview, he was asked about the main contribution they made to economic sciences and responded: “Most of our work has been focused on trying to understand inequality, in try to understand why the world is divided between countries that are prosperous and others that are poor. We have asked ourselves how this difference arose historically and how it has been maintained despite the enormous consequences on human well-being. That has been the main theme of our research for the last 30 years. Specifically we have tried to understand how institutions establish the rules that influence prosperity and poverty in different societies,” Robinson revealed.

According to his perspective, there were “improvements” in poverty levels as is the case in China, but he mentions that the same did not happen in Africa and Latin America. He also adds that the US has “threats to social inclusion and prosperity.”

The origin of inequality

The professor recalled the arrival of Christopher Columbus and his meeting with the Latin American indigenous peoples, and stated that the research they carried out shows that the “poverty and inequality in Latin America are deeply rooted in colonialism, the exploitation of indigenous people and the existence of slavery.”

“Latin America has big problems of inclusion, marginalization, exploitation. That is why it is poor and is still trying to find a way out. On the other hand, much of our work analyzes how the United States historically differs from those patterns,” he argued.

Who is James A. Robinson

Professor of Global Conflict Studies and director of the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts at the University of Chicago, He was noted for his influential research about the relationship between political power, institutions and prosperity. The 64-year-old economist has developed a particular interest in the study of sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

That led him to teach courses at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá between 1994 and 2022 and to carry out field work in countries such as Bolivia, Colombia and Haiti, among many others.

Along with Daron Acemoglu, Robinson published acclaimed books such as “Economic origins of dictatorship and democracy”“Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty,” and “The narrow corridor: States, society and the destiny of freedom.”