… is from page 86 of Daron Acemoglu’s and James Robinson’s 2012 book, Why Nations Fail:
Economic growth is not just a process of more and better machines, and more and better educated people, but also a transformative and destabilizing process associated with widespread creative destruction. Growth thus moves forward only if not blocked by the economic losers who anticipate that their economic privileges will be lost and by the political losers who fear that their political power will be eroded.
Indeed so.
I’m not as keen on this book as are some other people, but it does get much right – especially the importance of creative destruction.
