The explanation, especially of economic theories, is always open to question. In fact, there is no perfect explanation. Yet, this year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has gone to Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson of MIT, and James A. Robinson of the University of Chicago, for explaining why some countries are rich and others poor. In the early 20th century, Max Weber argued that Protestant Calvinism helped Europe progress by offering a concept of worldly........