AUTOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS SEEK RENTS SOCIETIES CAN NEVER DEVELOP. —“|Peter Boettk

http://www.coordinationproblem.org/2015/05/there-is-no-magic-bullet-in-development.htmlIF AUTOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS SEEK RENTS SOCIETIES CAN NEVER DEVELOP.

—“|Peter Boettke|

That is what Marshall Poe concludes as the punch line for Robin Grier and Jerry Hough’s The Long Process of Development. As he puts it, development in the Grier and Hough story is about style of governance and the passage of time:

If autocratic governments do nothing but take rents, the societies they rule will not develop, not ever, no matter how long or hard the governments try to development them. If they are even semi-popular and pro-trade, they will develop, though it will take a very, very long time. There’s no magic bullet. You can’t simply import democracy and capitalism and hope for a rapid transition to freedom and prosperity.

The process of development takes centuries.”—

( Ayelam Valentine Agaliba )