ClippingKK

国忠处理货币危机最难得的地方在于，作为高高在上的顶级官僚，他能够摆正政府的位置，把政府当成一个竞争者，与市场上的造假者争夺消费者，服务消费

Extractive institutions then not only pave the way for the next regime, which will be even more extractive, but they also engender continuous infighting and civil wars. These civil wars then cause more human suffering and also destroy even what little state centralization these societies have achieved. This also often starts a process of descent into lawlessness, state failure, and political chaos, crushing all hopes of economic prosperity,

他这样的封疆大吏，死在唐玄宗手里的实在太多了。节度三镇的安禄山清楚地记得，功劳比自己更大、兵权比自己更重的四镇节度王忠嗣，就因为和太子走得太近，前不久在被废黜后郁郁而终。另一位太子旧友皇甫惟明曾担任河西陇右节度使，在李林甫打压太子的行动中被赐死。为了活命，安禄山此刻也只有装傻充愣了

It was much easier for the North Koreans to create a more radically communist-style economy, since they could expropriate former Japanese assets and build on the economic model of the Chinese Revolution.

我们之所以提出“零售娱乐化”，是因为我们认为不管是在当年的消费升级大背景下，还是在今天，大家都更加注重精神生活。大家都知道马斯洛需求理论，其实到最后大家都开始去更多地进行一些精神类消费。我们卖的这些产品多数情况下并没有实用功能，而是关于审美、艺术、陪伴的精神类产品，然后再加上一些娱乐化的玩法

the ability of those who dominate extractive institutions to benefit greatly at the expense of the rest of society implies that political power under extractive institutions is highly coveted, making many groups and individuals fight to obtain it. As a consequence, there will be powerful forces pushing societies under extractive institutions toward political instability.

Because of the party’s control over economic institutions, the extent of creative destruction is heavily curtailed, and it will remain so until there is radical reform in political institutions. Just as in the Soviet Union, the Chinese experience of growth under extractive political institutions is greatly facilitated because there is a lot of catching up to do. Income per capita in China is still a fraction of that in the United States and Western Europe. Of course, Chinese growth is considerably more diversified than Soviet growth; it doesn’t rely on only armaments or heavy industry, and Chinese entrepreneurs are showing a lot of ingenuity. All the same, this growth will run out of steam unless extractive political institutions make way for inclusive institutions. As long as political institutions remain extractive, growth will be inherently limited, as it has been in all other similar cases.

The Communist economic institutions were in turn supported by extractive political institutions, concentrating all power in the hands of Communist parties and introducing no constraints on the exercise of this power. Though these were different extractive institutions in form, they had similar effects on the livelihoods of the people as the extractive institutions in Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone.