The Narrow Corridor, between model and educational text

In 2019, the economists Daron Acemoğlu and James Robinson, with their latest publication ”The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty” wanted to add what is, in their opinion, another essential factor to economic growth, the personal freedom of individuals. One of the theories of the book is that external events may modify, for better or worse, the position of a State within the boundaries of the model. The objective of this dissertation would be, after having encapsulated and displayed the ideas presented in “The Narrow Corridor” (2020), to apply them to one of the last socio-economic catastrophes, the Covid-19 outbreak. My objective is to see how the outbreak might have impacted the balance and how the policies to fight the virus were received to introduce Acemoğlu and Robinson’s theory as a possible interpretation of the consequences of the pandemic and the citizens’ reactions in the analysed States that are India, China, UK, and Sweden. I will try to analyse if these policies were well received by the population and if they were effective to contain the spread of the epidemic. Lastly, I will try to theorise if and how much the events and the government reactions impacted the position of the various countries inside or outside the Corridor.