Easterly Reviews Collier

The New York Review of Books: Foreign Aid Goes Military!

This is a book review of the Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by William Easterly, the author of The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. I think Easterly's book is still the best of the books I've read on Africa. In this lengthy review, Easterly takes Collier to task for his openness to military intervention in failing nations. I don't think Easterly's criticism invalidates the basic themes coming from Collier's research but I think it does provide a helpful check on how we move from research to policy.