The Rise and Decline of Nations
by Mancur Olson · first published 1982
14mentions
6recommended by
10HN commenters
2009–2021first – last mentioned
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A formal argument, grounded in collective action and incentives, for why small interest groups gain influence and slow economic growth; recommended for readers seeking an explanation of institutional decline.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Explores the relation between economic development and collective action, hypothesizing that small collectives are dynamic and flexible enough to quickly react to changes, encouraging economic development, while large collectives are slow and inflexible when faced with change, leading to economic decline.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
…money for museums rather than relying on large individual contributions. It's likely that many fewer museums would exist. For a deeper look at this I recommend reading the book by Mancur Olson - The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities. It takes a look at special interest groups and their effects on economic growth. http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Decline-Nations-Stagflation-Rigid...
on “What would it take for the people to buy back Congress?” ↗…understand why some countries succeed and why some don’t What have you read so far? Did you do any research? The field of philosophy and political science does not lack publications. I can recommend "The Rise and Decline of Nations" by Mancur Olson. Further authors which I still have to go through, but seem relevant: Theodore Dalrymple René Girard Roger Scruton James Burnham
on “The Mighty Fallen: Argentina and the Great Depression” ↗Read Rise and Decline of Nations by Mancur Olson. http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Decline-Nations-Stagflation-Rigid... It explains this phenomenon. Basically, for a group of size n, members only get 1/n of the value they contribute towards…
on “Future Generations Steal from Themselves” ↗Off the top of my head, Mancur Olson's book 1982 The Rise and Decline of Nations is one of the better explanations. It's a formal modeling of lobbying and interest groups. The incentive structure is such that small groups capable of action can easily push for their specific interests,…
on “User-friendliness and fascism ” ↗For those interested in the theory of lobbying and special interest groups one of my favorite books is Mancur Olson's Rise and Decline of Nations (https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Decline-Nations-Stagflation-Rigi...). It's an incredibly approachable read that does a wonderful job digging into the incentives and explains why lobbying exists and why…
on “H&R Block and Intuit Lobbying Against Simpler Tax Filing (2017)” ↗…communists, neoliberal school, feudalists, physiocrats, cyberntics / systems theorists, complexity economists, biophysical economics, and numerous others. Among texts I'd recommend: Mancur Olson, The Rise and Decline of Nations. Lloyd Jeffrey Dumans, The Overburdened Econommy. Gregory Clark, A Farewell to Alms. (The series this is part of contains numerous other explorations of economic history.) Karl Polanyi, The Great…
on “The Mighty Fallen: Argentina and the Great Depression” ↗Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Rise and Decline of Nations by Mancur Olson
on “Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.” ↗…resources, but one of the poorest and least functional in terms of economics and institutions. This book gives a good overview of the history of Congo and explains why the problems are so deeply rooted. The Rise and Decline of Nations and Power and Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships, both by Mancur Olson. Why do some nations develop into relatively free, relatively rich countries, while others stagnate in…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗Mancur Olson made a similar point in his 1984 book The Rise and Decline of Nations. His argument is that as time goes on, special interests and entrenched bureaucracies take what was a simpler system and load it up with exceptions and complexity. The more complex they become, the…
on “The Collapse of Complex Business Models” ↗…nothing.) I'm thinking for example of guilds of various forms throughout Mideaval Europe, as well as China. My knowledge in this area is not that extensive, but there are a few colourful examples in "The Rise and Decline of Nations" by Mancur Olson, e.g. IIRC one guild in China collectively biting another master to death for taking on too many apprentices (copies!) for fashioning gold leaf -- gold leaf for the king (no less), whose…
on “Send Them Your Money: A Campaign to Send The RIAA/MPAA Billions” ↗…naturally from barter, was originally a tally for taxes and looting). the article was tl;dr. did they at least cite mancur olsen for the stationary bandit hypothesis? AFAIK it originated in his book the rise and decline of nations: http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Decline-Nations-Stagflation-Rigid...
on “Why Poor Countries Are Poor” ↗Based on your description this seems very similar to Mancur Olson's "The Rise and Decline of Nations" - he provides an economic framework to think about special interest groups and why they tend to win out in terms of politics.
on “Rum Deal: America’s booze laws are terrible” ↗…objectives, large groups will not work towards shared objectives unless their individual members are sufficiently motivated.[3] In 1982, he expanded the scope of his earlier work in an attempt to explain The Rise and Decline of Nations (1982). He argues that groups such as cotton-farmers, steel-producers, and labor unions have an incentive to form lobby groups and influence policies in their favor. These policies will tend to be protectionist,…
on “You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corporations do it instead” ↗thanks, just ordered Rise and Decline of Nations...
on “The Collapse of Complex Business Models” ↗