Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics

by Easterly, William R.

• ISBN13: 9780262550420
• ISBN10: 0262550423
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780262260657
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780262050654
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-02
• Publisher: MIT
• More Book Details

Summary

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.

Author Biography

William Easterly is Senior Advisor, Development Research Group, the World Bank.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Preface to the Paperback Edition	x
Prologue: The Quest	xi
I Why Growth Matters	1	(20)
To Help the Poor	5	(16)
Intermezzo: In Search of a River	16	(5)
II Panaceas That Failed	21	(120)
Aid for Investment	25	(22)
Intermezzo: Parmila	45	(2)
Solow's Surprise: Investment Is Not the Key to Growth	47	(24)
Intermezzo: Dry Cornstalks	70	(1)
Educated for What?	71	(16)
Intermezzo: Without a Refuge	85	(2)
Cash for Condoms?	87	(14)
Intermezzo: Tomb Paintings	99	(2)
The Loans That Were, the Growth That Wasn't	101	(22)
Intermezzo: Roumeen's Story	121	(2)
Forgive Us Our Debts	123	(18)
Intermezzo: Cardboard House	138	(3)
III People Respond to Incentives	141	(152)
Tales of Increasing Returns: Leaks, Matches, and Traps	145	(26)
Intermezzo: War and Memory	170	(1)
Creative Destruction: The Power of Technology	171	(24)
Intermezzo: Accident in Jamaica	193	(2)
Under an Evil Star	195	(22)
Intermezzo: Favela Life	215	(2)
Governments Can Kill Growth	217	(24)
Intermezzo: Florence and Veronica	240	(1)
Corruption and Growth	241	(14)
Intermezzo: Discrimination in Palanpur	253	(2)
Polarized Peoples	255	(30)
Intermezzo: Violent for Centuries	282	(3)
Conclusion: The View from Lahore	285	(8)
Notes	293	(20)
References and Further Reading	313	(22)
Index	335