Big ideas Big policies, I really hope for a better world in our future. ( )

A sober, often counterintuitive roadmap for global development. Part academic analytics, part quite manifesto, "The Bottom Billion" is poignet, timely and surprisingly readable. ( )

A sober, often counterintuitive roadmap for global development. Part academic analytics, part quite manifesto, "The Bottom Billion" is poignet, timely and surprisingly readable. ( )

It's hard for me to critique this adequately because I'm not an economist. It does impress me that the author identifies which of his own referenced articles or studies have been peer reviewed and which haven't. This is my most marked-up book of the last few years, but mostly in a good and dialogical way. I agree with some of the author's assertions, think some of his arguments are made at the wrong level (e.g., statements about NGOs that may be true of larger organizations but aren't true of smaller ones), and note that perhaps not all forms of licit development are equally good for a country. I liked the ways in which he looked at the bottom billion problem from perspectives such as corruption, revolution, and landlock. It gave me a lot to think about as I consider how to be useful in the world. ( )

This is a popularisation of the issues confronting the countries stuck at the bottom of development. What are the causes of this permanent failure and what can be done about it?