ClippingKK

Such critical junctures are important because there are formidable barriers against gradual improvements, resulting from the synergy between extractive political and economic institutions and the support they give each other. The persistence of this feedback loop creates a vicious circle. Those who benefit from the status quo are wealthy and well organized, and can effectively fight major changes that will take away their economic privileges and political power.

许多学者在谈及这一论题时，都喜欢过分强调保甲制度在监视民众方面有效且令人生畏，喜欢过分强调有时（比如未及时举报犯罪时）落在保甲长头上的处罚很严厉。这些作者似乎都假定，乡村居民完全处于政府的控制之下。至于保甲制实际上如何成其功，这一问题从未得到应有的注意。[18]事实上，保甲制度总的来讲是没有效率的。[19]在清朝，这一制度最初实行于1644年，当时地方官员态度消极，懒得贯彻

These differences are often small to start with, but they cumulate, creating a process of institutional drift. Just as two isolated populations of organisms will drift apart slowly in a process of genetic drift, because random genetic mutations cumulate, two otherwise similar societies will also slowly drift apart institutionally. Though, just like genetic drift, institutional drift has no predetermined path and does not even need to be cumulative; over centuries it can lead to perceptible, sometimes important differences. The differences created by institutional drift become especially consequential, because they influence how society reacts to changes in economic or political circumstances during critical junctures.

China under the rule of the Communist Party is another example of society experiencing growth under extractive institutions and is similarly unlikely to generate sustained growth unless it undergoes a fundamental political transformation toward inclusive political institutions.

In fact, Egypt is poor precisely because it has been ruled by a narrow elite that have organized society for their own benefit at the expense of the vast mass of people. Political power has been narrowly concentrated, and has been used to create great wealth for those who possess it, such as the $70 billion fortune apparently accumulated by ex-president Mubarak. The losers have been the Egyptian people, as they only too well understand.

显然，几乎所有不能由政府预算供给的衙门费用，都必须以这种或那种形式的陋规，实即通过当地百姓付费的方式来满足。当一个村长（庄头）或衙门雇员被州县官索要陋规时，他就会转而向普通百姓索取；自己先扣留一部分，其余上交州县官。因此，地方百姓有着双重负担——政府征收的常规税费、州县官及其衙门雇员索取的陋规。无论在哪种事件或情形中，真正支付各种各样费用的总是当事百姓

Though the slave trade mostly ended after 1807, subsequent European colonialism not only threw into reverse nascent economic modernization in parts of southern and western Africa but also cut off any possibility of indigenous institutional reform. This meant that even outside of areas such as Congo, Madagascar, Namibia, and Tanzania, the areas where plunder, mass disruption, and even whole-scale murder were the rule, there was little chance for Africa to change its institutional path.

Stalin wanted to maximize his discretion to reward people or groups who were politically loyal, and punish those who were not. As for Gosplan, its main role was to provide Stalin with information so he could better monitor his friends and enemies. It actually tried to avoid making decisions. If you made a decision that turned out badly, you might get shot. Better to avoid all responsibility.