Arthur T. Denzau

Arthur T. Denzau (Born. June 15, 1947) is Professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University, where he also serves as Associate Dean of the School of Politics and Economics. My research is gradually coming to focus on a question that I heard Nobel laureate Douglass North pose nine years ago: "Why have almost all societies in human history failed to grow economically in per capita terms for more than a generation?" Much of my current work, along with my students here at CGU deals pretty directly with this question: we ask what it is that governments do to hinder or destroy economic growth. These policies result from the attempts to achieve and maintain political power, and forcefully show the importance of institutions in channeling...