Daron Acemoglu

Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu launches his latest book, What Happened to Liberal Democracy? Remaking a Politics of Shared Prosperity, a sharp and sweeping analysis of the rise – and fall – of the dominant political structure of our age.

Acemoglu argues that liberal democracy flourished when it pursued its core promises of shared prosperity, democratic governance, and the free pursuit of knowledge. But liberalism never adjusted to becoming the core of Establishment ideology of the 20th Century. Nor did it have the resilience to deal with the shock of disruptive digital technologies. Instead, it elevated a cadre of highly educated elites – and sowed the seeds for widespread inequality.

So what explains these failures – and what comes next? Using the wide interdisciplinary lens that has won him global acclaim, Acemoglu explores the unparalleled progress which liberalism created, and how it has plunged democracies into crisis over the last few decades. He also lays out his solution: a liberalism of the working class, which is rooted in community, prioritises prosperity for the many and accommodates a wide range of views and ideas.

Daron Acemoglu is an institute professor at MIT and Faculty Co-Director of MIT’s Shaping the Future of Work Initiative. He has been awarded, among others, the John Bates Clark Medal, the Nemmers Prize, the Global Economy Prize and the Nobel Prize in Economics. He is the co-author of Why Nations Fail, which has sold over one million copies worldwide.