Why are some nations more prosperous than others? This book sets out to answer this question, with a compelling and elegantly argued new theory: that it is due not to climate, geography or culture, but institutions. Drawing on an extraordinary range of examples, from ancient Rome through the Tudors to modern-day China, leading academics Darom Acemoglu and James A. Robinson show that to invest and prosper, people need to know that if they work hard, they can make money and actually keep it – and this means sound institutions that allow virtuous circles of innovation, economic expansion, more widely-held wealth and peace.