Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3665 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Tim Harford, Financial Times columnist and author of The Undercover Economist
This is an arresting, provocative book. If you care about the fate of the poorest people in the world, and want to understand what can be done to help them, read it. If you don't care, read it anyway.

Review
Fluent, thought-provoking book. (David Smith, The Observer )

Rarely can a book on this subject have been such a pleasurable read. (David Smith, The Observer )

Every politician should read this. (Simon Shaw, Irish Mail on Sunday. )

There are hundreds of books on development but none as well written and authoritative as Paul Collier's 'The Bottom Billion' (Edmund Conway, Daily Telegraph )

Every politician should read this. (Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday )

This is a short book, but one which brilliantly challenges conventional views about development and aid. (Nick Rennison, Sunday Times )

This extraordinarily important book should be read by everyone who cares about Africa. (Max Hastings, Sunday Times )

A splendid book... rich in both analysis and recommendations... read this book. (Martin Wolf, Finacial Times )

It will change the way you look at the tragedy of persistent poverty in a world of plenty. (Martin Wolf, Financial Times )

Set to become a classic. His book should be compulsory reading for anyone embroiled in the thankless task of trying to pull people out of the pit of poverty. (The Economist )

An arresting, provocative book. If you care about the fate of the poorest people in the world, and want to understand what can be done to help them, read this book. If you don't care, read it anyway. (Tim Harford, author of 'The Undercover Economist' )

Tim Harford
'This is an arresting, provocative book....Read it.'

Customer Reviews

A joy to read
This is a thought-provoking book: the problems of the poorest countries are deeply and cogently analysed and explained, and appropriate policies proposed. It has the added virtue of being written in simple and refreshingly straight-forward language. There is much that is absolutely original here.

The one comment I have is that Collier bases some of his policy prescriptions on the assumption that the only way to develop is through export, which seems to suggest export-led growth and large projects. There is nothing about micro projects and the need to work with the poor to alleviate poverty through the provision of appropriate/intermediate technology.

I e-mailed him about this and received a rapid and courteous reply saying that he did not have space in the book to cover everything and that he agreed that exporting only makes sense as a growth strategy for some countries and that he has no fault to find with the micro approach.

He also suggested I might write this review; so I did.

PS I also thoroughly recommend the lecture on his website.

Thought-Provoking Analysis and Solutions for a Better World

Despite well-publicised significant improvements in the average condition of several billion people in our world, there remain some one billion seriously poor people, and their condition is unlikely to improve. They are trapped, by conflicts, by possessing natural resources (sic), by being landlocked with bad neighbours, and/or by bad governance. Additionally, globalization is not going to help those caught in the trap. Do we have a responsibility to help? Yes, says Oxford professor of economics and African studies expert, Paul Collier, we do because we are citizens, and that status demands that we help our fellow human beings.

We are a book group of retired men, with experience in a wide range of disciplines and countries, who have read and discussed "The Bottom Billion". Without exception, we all found Collier's identification of this group of non-developing nations, and the problems they face, highly thought-provoking. We were particularly impressed by his use of researchers from different countries and disciplines, and the quantitative techniques used, to analyse the causes of those countries' problems, the impacts on them, and for identifying potential solutions. The power of these analyses was such that many of our preconceived views were changed and we were left wondering what, if anything, we could do as individuals to help the people of these countries escape from their terrible plight.

The Bottom Billion is very principled treatise that takes a close look at one of the biggest running sores in our world, and offers some solutions where many people may have said, sorrowfully, that no cure exists at all.

A Neo-liberal Apologia.
This is another effort by the neo-liberal economic establishment to distance itself from the consequences of its policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. This book is mainly about Sub-Saharan Africa.

The former head of research at the World Bank is perplexed by the failure of Sub-Saharan countries to develop. Maybe, this failure is due to the policies forced on African countries by the Western donors, the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO.

Collier tells us that Sub-Saharan countries are not developing because they have fallen into one or more of four traps. These traps are:
1. Bad governance ( read corruption );
2. Being land-locked with bad neighbours;
3. Natural resources curse, and
4. Wars and civil conflict.

Let's take corruption first. Corruption was rampant in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Public posts used to be given to the highest bidder. The British Treasury was a private institution until the 19th century. In the USA, loyal supporters of winning parties used to be rewarded with public office. A practice that continues to this day-a complete change of personnel when a new administration takes office. None of this stopped Europe or North America becoming rich.

Next, let's look at wars and conflict. European nations were constantly at each other's throat until relatively recently. In the 1990s the Balkans were torn apart by war. In the summer of 2008 war broke out in the Caucuses.

In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s the wars in Africa were mainly proxy wars brought about by the cold war. True, there have been a tiny number of inter-state wars caused by border disputes. The majority have been civil wars over resources.

Wars never stopped Europeans becoming rich.

The differnce between Europe and North America on the one hand, and Africa on the other is that Europe and North America were free to use activist and interventionist policies to promote their manufacturing industries.
Africa is forbidden from using activist and interventionist policies to promote her manufacturing industry by the West.

To get aid, Africa is forced, by the donors, to open her markets to full global competetion. The little industry that is there is completely overwhelmed. Thousands of people are thrown out of work, increasing levels of poverty.

Cheap food produced by subsidised farmers in the West is dumped on Africa, destroying local food markets.

All this is done at the insistence of the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO.

Now let me relate the story of a small, land-locked and resource rich Sub-Saharan country. Botswana is rich in diamonds. Botswana gained independence from Britain in the early 1960s. From the beginning, Botswana practised multi-party democracy. Botswana has never known military coups or civil conflicts. Botswana accepted aid only during its first few years of independence. Botswana holds the world record for the fastest growing economy over the past 40 years. I believe that Botswana has been able to do this because she hasn't needed aid. Therefore, she did not have to take the bitter pills prescribed by the World Bank and the IMF. The medicine prescribed by these two organisations usually kills the patient.

In his prescription, Collier doesn't discuss the role of Western policy on Sub-Saharan development.

Collier doesn't tell us that the economic and social policies of Sub-Saharan countries are dictated by the West. World Bank staff are embedded in African central banks and ministries of finance. Many Sub-Saharan countries cannot pass a budget into law without the approval of the IMF. This has been going on for about three decades.

Now that the West's policies have failed to deliver development, the architects of these policies are casting around for someone or something to blame for the failure.