The 10 Rules of Successful Nations

The 10 Rules of Successful Nations is a concise and highly practical primer by renowned investor and Financial Times columnist Ruchir Sharma. Drawing on his decades of experience analysing economies across the globe—from emerging markets to superpowers—Sharma distils his knowledge into ten essential rules for identifying which nations are poised for growth and which are set to decline.

This book is a direct challenge to conventional economic forecasting, offering a wake-up call to economists and analysts who have failed to foresee recent global crises. Sharma emphasises overlooked, real-world signs of change, moving beyond abstract theories and complex mathematical models.

Key insights and rules include:

• Why the flight of knowledgeable locals often signals a looming currency crisis, not the actions of “evil foreigners.”
• The argument is that autocrats are detrimental to long-term economic stability.
• Why looking beyond consumer prices is essential to truly understand inflation.
• The surprising conclusion that the best news for any country is no news at all, as stability breeds opportunity.

The 10 Rules of Successful Nations reframes economics as a practical art, making it a critical read for business leaders, policymakers, students, and anyone seeking to understand the most important forces shaping a nation’s destiny in the modern world.