Contents Preface Why Egyptians filled Tahrir Square to bring down Hosni Mubarak and what it means for our understanding of the causes of prosperity and poverty 1. So Close and Yet So Different Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, have the same people, culture, and geography. Why is one rich and one poor? 2. Theories That Don't Work Poor countries are poor not because of their geographies or cultures, or because their leaders do not know which policies will enrich their citizens 3. The Making of Prosperity and Poverty How prosperity and poverty are determined by the incentives created by institutions, and how politics determines what institutions a nation has 4. Small Differences and Critical Junctures: The Weight of History How institutions change through political conflict and how the past shapes the present 5. "I've Seen the Future, and It Works": Growth Under Extractive Institutions What Stalin, King Shyaam, the Neolithic Revolution, and the Maya city-states all had in common and how this explains why China?s current economic growth cannot last 6. Drifting Apart How institutions evolve over time, often slowly drifting apart 7. The Turning Point How a political revolution in 1688 changed institutions in England and led to the Industrial Revolution 8. Not on Our Turf: Barriers to Development Why the politically powerful in many nations opposed the Industrial Revolution 9. Reversing Development How European colonialism impoverished large parts of the world 10. The Diffusion of Prosperity How some parts of the world took different paths to prosperity from that of Britain 11. The Virtuous Circle How institutions that encourage prosperity create positive feedback loops that prevent the efforts by elites to undermine them 12. The Vicious Circle How institutions that create poverty generate negative feedback loops and endure 13. Why Nations Fail Today Institutions, institutions, institutions 14. Breaking the Mold How a few countries changed their economic trajectory by changing their institutions 15. Understanding Prosperity and Poverty How the world could have been different and how understanding this can explain why most attempts to combat poverty have failed Acknowledgments Bibliographical Essay and Sources References Index