“Countries such as Great Britain and the United States become rich because their citizens overthrew the elites who controlled power and created a society where political rights were much more broadly distributed, where the government was accountable and responsible to citizens, and where the great mass of people could take advantage of economic opportunities.” – Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

Daron Acemoglu
is the Killian Professor of Economics at MIT. In 2005 he received the John Bates Clark Medal award to economics under forty judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.

James A.Robinson
a political scientist and economist, is the David Florence Professor of Government at Harvard University. A world renowned expert on Latin America and Africa, he is currently conducting research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Haiti and in Colombia where he has taught for many years during the summer at the University of the Andes in Bogota.