Institutions, Culture, and Prosperity: Nobel Laureate James A. Robinson Speaks at SPE

The National Taiwan University Raymond Soong Chair Professorship of Distinguished Research Lecture Series welcomed Professor James A. Robinson, 2024 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences and Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, the University of Chicago, to deliver a keynote lecture on December 17, 2025. In conjunction with the keynote, SPE hosted three SPE-facing sessions: an interlocutor-style dialogue moderated by Dean Spyros Maniatis, and two class lectures titled “Searching for Fish in Trees” (I & II), moderated by Professor Mariam Malashkhia and Professor Hans Tung, respectively, highlighting Robinson’s research on how institutions and culture shape development outcomes.

 

Professor Robinson is widely recognized as a leading scholar in political economy, institutional economics, and comparative development. His work has helped define a major analytical framework for understanding how political and economic institutions—together with historical trajectories—condition long-run prosperity. In 2024, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences jointly with Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, in recognition of their influential contributions to the study of institutional formation, persistence, and economic development.

 

Successfully hosted by SPE, the lecture attracted nearly 400 participants from across the University and beyond.

 

In the keynote, “Why Nations Fail,” Robinson revisited a central question in political economy: why some societies become more innovative and prosperous than others. Drawing on comparative cases—including the Korean peninsula as a powerful illustration—he explained how inclusive institutions foster broad-based incentives for investment and innovation, while extractive institutions concentrate power and restrict opportunity. He also addressed the “puzzles” of rapid growth under limited political inclusion, emphasizing why such trajectories can be difficult to sustain over the long run.

 

In “Searching for Fish in Trees” (緣木求魚) I & II, Robinson offered students an accessible toolkit for evaluating development claims. Part I introduced a taxonomy of determinants (classical vs. non-classical; vertical vs. horizontal; manipulable vs. non-manipulable) and emphasized why effective policy begins with identifying what can realistically be changed. Part II examined the risks of attempting to engineer norms and identities, and introduced Albert Hirschman’s distinction between “trait making” and “trait taking”—a practical guide for designing interventions that fit local contexts rather than working against them.

 

Robinson’s visit did more than enrich a single event; it elevated the intellectual tempo of the semester and sharpened SPE’s collective focus on the real-world stakes of institutional design. The lectures catalyzed rigorous discussion across faculty and students, reinforced SPE’s position as a hub for high-impact interdisciplinary exchange, and inspired students to approach political economy not only as theory, but as a set of tools for understanding—and shaping—the futures of societies.

 

Following the lecture, Professor Robinson joined SPE faculty members for a dinner banquet, providing an opportunity for further exchange and discussion.