Download The Elusive Quest for Growth Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics William R Easterly William Easterly 9780262550420 Books

Download As PDF : The Elusive Quest for Growth Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics William R Easterly William Easterly 9780262550420 Books

Why economists' attempts to help poorer countries improve their economic well-being have failed.

Since the end of World War II, economists have tried to figure out how poor countries in the tropics could attain standards of living approaching those of countries in Europe and North America. Attempted remedies have included providing foreign aid, investing in machines, fostering education, controlling population growth, and making aid loans as well as forgiving those loans on condition of reforms. None of these solutions has delivered as promised. The problem is not the failure of economics, William Easterly argues, but the failure to apply economic principles to practical policy work.

In this book Easterly shows how these solutions all violate the basic principle of economics, that people―private individuals and businesses, government officials, even aid donors―respond to incentives. Easterly first discusses the importance of growth. He then analyzes the development solutions that have failed. Finally, he suggests alternative approaches to the problem. Written in an accessible, at times irreverent, style, Easterly's book combines modern growth theory with anecdotes from his fieldwork for the World Bank.

Download The Elusive Quest for Growth Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics William R Easterly William Easterly 9780262550420 Books

"This is a brilliant and important book. After you spend only 15 minutes reading the intro & part of chapter 1, you will see very clearly that the topic is of critical importance for the majority of people on this planet.
The book is also very well-written: complex material (when it appears) is explained in terms the average college-educated person can grasp, and Easterly intersperses lots and lots of real-world anecdotes to always keep reminding the reader why we should care about this topic. And he succeeds in making us care.
In order to have any chance at all of devising policies that will actually succeed in improving the plight of the impoverished peoples of the world, we must first examine what's been tried, and understand why it hasn't worked. This is Easterly's plan for the book. For each main paradigm used to understand economic growth and development, Easterly explains the main concepts, explains the basis for the policies that were tried, and offers his analysis of why these policies failed. Easterly believes there's a common theme in understanding what hasn't worked and what might work, and he explains it clearly in his book.
If you are a teacher or student of economics, I especially recommend this book. It very nicely explains the economic intuition behind a LOT of economic theory, including some fairly recent theory that hasn't yet trickled down into undergraduate intermediate level textbooks. It also motivates all the theory with lots and lots of compelling real-world examples.
The Elusive Quest for Growth doesn't offer a balanced look at all viewpoints; that is not its goal. Easterly has a strong point of view, which I guess could be labeled "conservative." Some liberals think that conservatives care more about big business than about the poor, or labor, or the environment (and indeed there are many examples of Republican policies in the U.S. that support this view - just look at Bush's record on the environment). However, Easterly's sole concern is helping the poor, not pushing a conservative agenda down the reader's throat.
At the time I write this, there are 16 other reader reviews, only 3 of which are negative. Two of these three reviews are almost identical and must have been written by the same person ("T Biamonte from Stamford, CT USA"). This reviewer clearly disagrees with Easterly's politics, but his review in my opinion really doesn't offer any effective criticism of Easterly's book itself, not the writing, or the soundness of Easterly's analysis, or the evidence Easterly uses to support this arguments.
So I encourage you to check out this book.
..."

Product details Series The MIT Press Paperback 356 pages Publisher MIT Press; Reprint edition (August 8, 2002) Language English ISBN-10 9780262550420 ISBN-13 978-0262550420 ASIN 0262550423

Tags : The Elusive Quest for Growth Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics [William R. Easterly, William Easterly] on . <P><B>Why economists' attempts to help poorer countries improve their economic well-being have failed.</B></P><P>Since the end of World War II,William R. Easterly, William Easterly,The Elusive Quest for Growth Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics,MIT Press,0262550423,Development - Economic Development,Economics - Theory,Developing countries - Economic policy,Poor - Developing countries,Poverty - Developing countries,BUSINESS ECONOMICS / Development / Economic Development,BUSINESS ECONOMICS / Economics / General,BUSINESS ECONOMICS / Economics / Theory,Business Economics,Business / Economics / Finance,Business/Economics,Development economics emerging economies,ECONOMIC POLICY,ECONOMIC THEORY,Economics,Economics - General,Economics/Trade Development,Non-Fiction,Popular economics,Scholarly/Undergraduate,UNIVERSITY PRESS,United States

The Elusive Quest for Growth Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics William R Easterly William Easterly 9780262550420 Books Reviews :

The Elusive Quest for Growth Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics William R Easterly William Easterly 9780262550420 Books Reviews

• If economic development in developing countries is a topic of interest, Easterly's book should be required reading. He examines the various approaches that have been tried over the past 50 or so years to alleviate the chronic poverty afflicting the developing world. The writing is fluid and easy to follow and is generally an exceptionally good read and even worth a second or third. He is at his best when picking apart the solutions introduced under different schools of thought in the development community, but he does this with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, so should be taken with a grain of salt regarding the full policy implications of his conclusions. While some of his ideas have a few holes, they are forgivable as long as he is not taken as gospel on the subject. His basic premise of "question what you think you know" is a solid starting point for anyone interested in the field. For a solidly-written contrary perspective, see Jeffrey Sachs' "The End of Poverty."
• This is a brilliant and important book. After you spend only 15 minutes reading the intro & part of chapter 1, you will see very clearly that the topic is of critical importance for the majority of people on this planet.
  The book is also very well-written complex material (when it appears) is explained in terms the average college-educated person can grasp, and Easterly intersperses lots and lots of real-world anecdotes to always keep reminding the reader why we should care about this topic. And he succeeds in making us care.
  In order to have any chance at all of devising policies that will actually succeed in improving the plight of the impoverished peoples of the world, we must first examine what's been tried, and understand why it hasn't worked. This is Easterly's plan for the book. For each main paradigm used to understand economic growth and development, Easterly explains the main concepts, explains the basis for the policies that were tried, and offers his analysis of why these policies failed. Easterly believes there's a common theme in understanding what hasn't worked and what might work, and he explains it clearly in his book.
  If you are a teacher or student of economics, I especially recommend this book. It very nicely explains the economic intuition behind a LOT of economic theory, including some fairly recent theory that hasn't yet trickled down into undergraduate intermediate level textbooks. It also motivates all the theory with lots and lots of compelling real-world examples.
  The Elusive Quest for Growth doesn't offer a balanced look at all viewpoints; that is not its goal. Easterly has a strong point of view, which I guess could be labeled "conservative." Some liberals think that conservatives care more about big business than about the poor, or labor, or the environment (and indeed there are many examples of Republican policies in the U.S. that support this view - just look at Bush's record on the environment). However, Easterly's sole concern is helping the poor, not pushing a conservative agenda down the reader's throat.
  At the time I write this, there are 16 other reader reviews, only 3 of which are negative. Two of these three reviews are almost identical and must have been written by the same person ("T Biamonte from Stamford, CT USA"). This reviewer clearly disagrees with Easterly's politics, but his review in my opinion really doesn't offer any effective criticism of Easterly's book itself, not the writing, or the soundness of Easterly's analysis, or the evidence Easterly uses to support this arguments.
  So I encourage you to check out this book.
  ...
• The writer of this book is something of a maverick, an employee of the World Bank who snips at its policies from the inside. His formula for growth is reasonably simple. It is necessary to create an environment in which there are considerable person incentives. However whilst he says this, he has no magic formula. In fact most of the book is a critique of developmental policies which have not worked. One imagines that the book is very much a popular account of material that appears in academic journals and is well known in the profession. Still the book is written in a bright and wry style which is easy to read and expresses complex ideas in a simple and logical way.
  The book outlines how initially both the injection of foreign aid and the role of education were seen as the key to growth. The book explains that the popularity of the idea of foreign aid was a belief that poorer countries had a shortage of capital. The injection of capital could lead to growth which would be self supporting. Thirty hears of foreign aid have shown that in the vast majority of cases the injection of capital has no effect at all on the wealth of poorer countries. Instead of development the most common result of foreign aid is the building of white elephants which have not other impact except creating huge debt payments which restrict the normal operation of the economies. In addition education is okay if there is a demand for it but money spent on education can simply lead to the training of experts who quickly emigrate.
  The key to many of the problems of poorer countries comes from government. The author is not a libertarian who rejects the role of government on an ideological basis. He in fact concedes that there is no relation between taxation levels and growth. He does show how poor government can damage a country in so many ways. Chronic inflation for instance creates an environment in which it is not economically rational to produce but only to speculate. Poor government can result in the failure to build and to maintain infrastructure and services pushing up the costs of production. In so many poorer countries, manufacturers not only face the problems of developing products and selling them but they face poorly maintained roads, power grids without power, phone systems that do not work. Lastly real corruption can make the running of business and an economy impossible.
  Despite the importance of corruption as one of the key reasons behind whether growth occurs or not, it has only recently been seen as something which economists would discuss.
  The book is easy to read, in parts amusing but at its heart it shows how important economic growth is to enable huge numbers of people to live with the access to medical care and employment which allows for a certain human dignity. Well worth a read.