Daron Acemoglu: evaluation

Transcript context

…Armen Alchian, right? Yes, exactly. Kasparov. It has disappointed. Armenia has really disappointed. It has underperformed economically. It had a good start in terms of building democracy, and then it’s squandered that. It still has that human capital focus, but the situation is very difficult. It’s squeezed between Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. Turkey is now finally perhaps going to start allowing trade and other things with Armenia, but it’s not always. It’s a landlocked country. It cannot export anything because, again, transport is not a possibility. It has to find a way of using its talent. I think the AI age actually creates opportunities for Armenia. There is a lot of interesting activity going on there, but the geopolitics is really, very risky. So far, it has somehow managed never to anger Russia, which I don’t know how they manage that. On the other hand, that comes at the expense of sometimes being too pro-Russian. It’s a complicated situation. I’ll be visiting Armenia for the first time in September. Now, of course, I’ll read guidebooks, ask my AIs, but what else should I know to make my visit a better one that I won’t pick up from traditional sources?…

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