widely in a pluralistic manner and are able to achieve some
amount of political centralization so as to establish law and
order, the foundations of secure property rights, and an
inclusive market economy. Similarly, extractive economic
institutions are synergistically linked to extractive political
institutions, which concentrate power in the hands of a few,
who will then have incentives to maintain and develop
extractive economic institutions for their benefit and use the
resources they obtain to cement their hold on political
power.
These tendencies do not imply that extractive economic
and political institutions are inconsistent with economic
growth. On the contrary, every elite would, all else being
equal, like to encourage as much growth as possible in
order to have more to extract. Extractive institutions that
have achieved at least a minimal degree of