Perfect and Excellent

Best book I ever read!

I found the title to be very interesting and a different take on global dynamics than I've heard before. It's obviously well backed with research and therefore proves a valid theory. I did find some of the chapters to go on a bit too long, hence 4 stars instead of 5 due to the fact that I saw where the case could be made with a bit more brevity. Overall, fantastic!

This book could have been written better. But the concepts are well worth the slog. I would recommend the last chapter, and maybe the first. The examples are confusing and perhaps ambiguous. The overall structure of the argument takes too long to come into focus. But the gist--that inclusive, non-extractive economics, and pluralistic politics are critical to economic prosperity--holds up well through the historical examples. The reason that the book is important is that it challenges conventional wisdom that solutions lie in additional resources, or the education of leaders. Nor should we think that resource affluence will lead to democratization of institutions. The critical leverage points are in changing those oligarchic institutions that disempower citizens from strengthening their political and economic systems. Certainly worth the read.