Why some nations are rich and others poor Many answers have been given over the years. The masterpiece of Adam Smith, considered the founder of economic science, carried this significant degree scroll: A research on the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. The Official financial aid to development (ODA), which channels the money that rich countries give to poor countries, has existed since 1980, when a UN Assembly proposed donating 0.7% of GDP to the least developed countries. The criticism received since then has been enormous. In some African countries, the more financial aid the less development, the more poverty and the more corruption. And countries in the Asia-Pacific area have gone from underdevelopment to plenary session of the Executive Council development almost without financial aid.

high school The latest contribution to the issue has been made by two American professors: Daron Acemoglu, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and James A. Robinson, of Harvard University, in the book: Why Countries Fail. The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Wealth. After reviewing three centuries of history, the authors conclude that the success or failure of nations is their institutions, understood as the ¿rules of the game¿ by which their economies and the rights of their inhabitants are managed. In this they agree with the traditional critics of aid. Acemoglu and Robinson add that without a functioning institutional infrastructure, no development is possible. Therefore, a country must have, at least, a few basic elements that allow its development, institutions and policies that make possible the existence of an accountable government, political system and financial system, as well as respect for law, property, contracts and free initiative. Otherwise, the financial aid runs the risk of being lost among the corrupt.

The Spanish think tank FRIDE in its 2003 report Towards a new era in ODA: building effective institutional infrastructures in countries at development also agrees thesis . FRIDE insisted that the core topic is in the institutions and whether they respect the democratic system, the rule of law, property, free initiative, citizen participation and freedom of opportunity.
If it is true that the fundamental cause of the development of nations lies in their institutions, we should ask ourselves with concern about the future of a country like Spain, which is plunged not only in a chilling economic crisis, but also in a very worrying institutional crisis. The structural reforms that our country desperately needs must necessarily point in both directions.