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Nevertheless, once in place, inclusive economic and political institutions tend to create a virtuous circle, a process of positive feedback, making it more likely that these institutions will persist and even expand.
growth under authoritarian, extractive political institutions in China, though likely to continue for a while yet, will not translate into sustained growth, supported by truly inclusive economic institutions and creative destruction.
Convicts were the only labor force, and the only way to incentivize them was to pay them wages for the work they were doing.
凡是自己下意识加上去的"为了好意的优化"，将来都要回来看一眼。因为每一样好意，都有可能在某一个他没有想到的角度，变成一道十六秒的空白
Even trade within the Americas was heavily regulated. For example, a merchant in a colony such as New Spain, roughly modern Mexico, could not trade directly with anyone in New Granada, modern Colombia. These restrictions on trade within the Spanish Empire reduced its economic prosperity and also, indirectly, the potential benefits that Spain could have gained by trading with another, more prosperous empire. Nevertheless, they were attractive because they guaranteed that the silver and gold would keep flowing to Spain.
中国后世历代都有这样一种源自法儒、道儒的争论，这并不是自由还是福利的争论，而是反自由还是反福利的争论。都是站在君主立场上博弈，“放”给贵族诸侯亦或收归国家。他们这些反自由者并不搞福利，而反福利的人也是如此，既反福利也不给自由。强调管制的一方主要想管制平民，而强调放任的一方主要想放纵权贵。于是就出现了一种现象，左是老百姓吃亏，右也是老百姓吃亏
The Bolshevik Revolution advertised its aim as replacing the exploitative economic system of tsarist Russia with a more just and efficient one that would bring freedom and prosperity to millions of Russians. Alas, the outcome was the opposite, and much more repressive and extractive institutions replaced those of the government the Bolsheviks overthrew. The experiences in China, Cuba, and Vietnam were similar. Many noncommunist, top-down reforms fared no better.
it is again the underlying extractive institutions that make politics so attractive to, and so biased in favor of, strongmen such as Perón and Chávez, rather than an effective party system producing socially desirable alternatives. Perón, Chávez, and dozens of other strongmen in Latin America are just another facet of the iron law of oligarchy, and as the name suggests, the roots of this iron law lies in the underlying elite-controlled regimes.
