Daron Acemoglu je sigurno jedan od mojih omljenih ekonomista. Dobar uvod u fokus njegovog rada prezentiran je ovdje. Možda par isječenih citata, no međusobno povezanih će ilustrirati zašto.
“A deep and important contribution of the discipline of economics is the insight that greed is neither good nor bad in the abstract. When channeled into profit-maximizing, competitive, and innovative behavior under the auspices of sound laws and regulations, greed can act as the engine of innovation and economic growth. But when unchecked by the appropriate institutions and regulations, it will degenerate into rent-seeking, corruption, and crime.” …
“We agreed that the key factor in starting economic development is democracy.”
“We have done a lot of empirical work that shows a very clear causal link between inclusive economic institutions— those that encourage participation by a broad cross section of society, enforce property rights, prevent expropriation—and economic growth, Acemoglu asserts. …
We can build states with infrastructure and law and order in which people are confident and comfortable going into business
and relying on public services, but there is no political will to do that. You would not need armies to implement such a scheme—just a functioning bureaucracy to lay down the institutional foundations of markets. …
This (njegovo istraživanje) will partly involve an account of how policies and institutions directly affect whether a society can embark on modern economic growth. These policies and institutions will determine the society’s reward structure and whether investments are profitable; its contract enforcement, law and order, and infrastructure; its market formation and whether more efficient entities can replace those that are less efficient; and its openness to new technologies that may infringe on politically connected incumbents.”
Svi ovi citati imaju jako puno smisla ako razmišljate o trenutnoj situaciji u Hrvatskoj, što je do nje dovelo i perspektivi za budućnost. Nažalost, puno govore i o trenutnom stanju hrvatske ekonomske misli i vrijednosti debata koje se trenutno vode. Dovoljno je usporediti, primjerice, zahtjeve i diskusije određenih grupacija ekonomista o ekonomskoj politici iz zadnjeg posta sa ovim gornjim uvidima o izvorima ekonomskog rasta. Uočljivo je koliko površno i neoriginalno pristupaju problemima izlaska iz recesije, novih investicija, ekonomskog rasta, i ostalih povezanih problema. Ovo bi trebao poslužiti kao jedan mali uvod za post o tematici političke ekonomije i ekonomskih problema koji obuzimaju Hrvatsku te kako ih nadvladati.