yes but..., 13 Nov 2008
Readable, passionate, but... if true, the latest financial crash would have seen another swift extension of market power. But does govt control or ownership of the banks, talk of aggressive new regulation or the 'end of capitalism' sound like capitalism making hay? Are we really seeing a retreat from govt or state activity in the face of recession?

On the contrary, this latest shock is widely described as a disaster for capitalism. The doctrine fails its first test. The former chairman of the Federal reserve - Alan Greenspan - talks about this shock as though it has fundamentally undermined the theoretical constructs of capitalism by showing the weakness of self interest. When the priests are becoming apostates, how can the shock be said to further their former creed? The conclusion has to be that this book is an aggressively selective reading of the evidence. As such, it might apply historically to some cases and is an interesting description of the manner in which some people find profit in any event, but does not come close to holding up as a doctrine. Overall, it strains far too hard and becomes less convincing with every doctrinaire assertion of its own. Having read the blurb about a methodical approach to data, I then read the the author's suggestion of an alignment of capitalism and torture with disbelief. This is not evidence, it is polemic, and occasionally whacky polemic at that. Spirited, but flawed.

Totally mindblowing, 30 Oct 2008
This is my first ever review on Amazon. No book has ever moved me to want to take action before like The Shock Dcotrine. Ok, so writing an Amazon review isn't going to change the world but getting as many people as possible to read this book is a step in the right direction.

A friend who recommended the book to me said it was powerful, but I wasn't prepared for just how powerful. Page after page I felt real physical rage and disbelief at how these horrific and world changing events have been happening for decades (and continue to happen) and yet have remained so under the radar of most of us.

Describing the contents of the book has been done very eloquently in other reviews, so I won't repeat that here. But I will just say PLEASE, whatever your political colour, however sceptical you are, PLEASE read this book, it will change how you view the world.



Yuck, 03 Oct 2008
Even though it was valuable for me to learn what is really going on, I read this book with a mixture of revulsion and horror. I was certainly shocked to learn about the tripartite economic recipe - privatisation, deregulation, and cutbacks in social welfare spending - repeatedly used around the world by a so-called democracy via highly non-democratic means.

In the early years, the primary shock vehicle was dictatorial military force and accompanying fear of - and actual mass use of - arrest, torture, disappearance, or death. Over time, new organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank were employed instead, deliberately creating impossible debt burdens to force governments to accept privatisation, removal of trade barriers and tariffs, and widespread layoffs. In more recent years, these policies have been used on peoples already shocked by terrroism or natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis.

And more and more information along the lines revealed by this book continues to show up - only recently, for example, "New Scientist" (23 July 2008) carried an article stating that, for each year of a country's involvement with the IMF, the TB death rate increased by four per cent on average. This was not because countries with worsening TB attract more IMF attention since the TB rates had been falling, or at least steady, before receiving IMF "help".

Finally, for a more personal view of the same story, read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".


Complex, Compelling, Horrifying, an Important Book, 29 Sep 2008
"The Shock Doctrine" is a thoroughly good read in which Naomi Klein sets out to illustrate the spread of the economic doctrine of the late economist Milton Friedman and of the Chicago School of Economics; to illustrate the use of force (backed by U.S government in a number of cases) by right-wing governments and exploitation of natural disaster and conflict to push through unpopular economic reforms (based on Friedman's doctrine), and how such governments are putting big business first to line their own pockets and those of the corporate sector, leaving the public sector to deteriorate and their nation to grow poorer and poorer.

The book opens with an introduction of Milton Friedman's view of disaster as an opportunity for the practice of free-market economics; how he longed for the chance to test out his theories and how he finally got the chance. Klein discusses research into the effects of psychological shock and then moves onto how this research was then used and abused by the CIA for interrogation purposes. We are then cited a number of case studies in which right-wing governments have used repressive measures to pursue with their economic policies, and the concept of 'planned misery' is developed.

It is when Klein turns onto the subject of shock therapy in the U.S., of the homeland security industry and U.S. management of Iraq vis-a-vis shock therapy becomes slightly inconsistent, something she appears to seek a remedy for, in the case of the latter, with the concept of "pre-emptive shock". This inconsistency itself, however, isn't particularly important because the message is clear enough: with all the back-scratching and dirty dealing going on under Bush, the corporate world has never had it so good.

The penultimate chapter looks at how conflict has benefited the Israeli economy and stock markets, and the final chapter is Klein's hope-inspiring conclusion is that capitalism is finally coming to its end as left-wing governments turn their backs on the U.S and on free-market economics ideas and practices, etc.

"The Shock Doctrine" is a complex book, but Klein's style of writing is ever-refreshing and there's not a dull word in the text, one of the great things about her work. She brilliantly portrays why right-wing big government and big business can be so dangerous. It's a relief to know both have a thorn in its side like Naomi Klein. This is an important book, one not to be missed. I'd definitely recommend it.

Scandal: Sometimes people profit when bad things happen. Film at eleven!, 21 Sep 2008
First, disclosure: I enjoyed No Logo a great deal, it informed a lot of the way I think about corporations and changed the way I bought clothes. I read the Guardian when I get a chance, and am addicted to the Daily Show. So please don't think that my review is based on having a radically different philosophy to Ms Klein.

I didn't like this book. The main thrust of the book is that there are theorists who believe that you can only change things when a big shock to the system happens; an earthquake, 9/11, Katrina, etc. In the aftermath the populace are too shocked and confused to notice free marketers running in to privatize public assets like security or schools. Now in individual cases, I agree this is something to keep an eye on, particularly with companys like Blackwater. But where the author loses me is in tying this together with a history of torture methods of the CIA around electroshock. I didn't really see the relevance of the comparison and it's a thread that weaves its way through the book. There's also a hint of the paranoia seen in conspiracy theorists, throughout, and here is my fundamental problem with that: most people are not evil. They go about their business, try to be good people, and that's that. If a corporation sees an opportunity to make money it's hardly surprising they will do, it doesn't always need to be interepreted as part of an agenda. Sometimes it's just business.

Personally I found the entire topic much less relevant to me than No Logo; what am I supposed to do about the issues explored here other than gripe about them to other lefties to show off how well read I am? At 550 pages this could also have done with being a lot more concise. Overall I'm disappointed that I didn't like this more.

yes but..., 13 Nov 2008
Readable, passionate, but... if true, the latest financial crash would have seen another swift extension of market power. But does govt control or ownership of the banks, talk of aggressive new regulation or the 'end of capitalism' sound like capitalism making hay? Are we really seeing a retreat from govt or state activity in the face of recession?

On the contrary, this latest shock is widely described as a disaster for capitalism. The doctrine fails its first test. The former chairman of the Federal reserve - Alan Greenspan - talks about this shock as though it has fundamentally undermined the theoretical constructs of capitalism by showing the weakness of self interest. When the priests are becoming apostates, how can the shock be said to further their former creed? The conclusion has to be that this book is an aggressively selective reading of the evidence. As such, it might apply historically to some cases and is an interesting description of the manner in which some people find profit in any event, but does not come close to holding up as a doctrine. Overall, it strains far too hard and becomes less convincing with every doctrinaire assertion of its own. Having read the blurb about a methodical approach to data, I then read the the author's suggestion of an alignment of capitalism and torture with disbelief. This is not evidence, it is polemic, and occasionally whacky polemic at that. Spirited, but flawed.

Totally mindblowing, 30 Oct 2008
This is my first ever review on Amazon. No book has ever moved me to want to take action before like The Shock Dcotrine. Ok, so writing an Amazon review isn't going to change the world but getting as many people as possible to read this book is a step in the right direction.

A friend who recommended the book to me said it was powerful, but I wasn't prepared for just how powerful. Page after page I felt real physical rage and disbelief at how these horrific and world changing events have been happening for decades (and continue to happen) and yet have remained so under the radar of most of us.

Describing the contents of the book has been done very eloquently in other reviews, so I won't repeat that here. But I will just say PLEASE, whatever your political colour, however sceptical you are, PLEASE read this book, it will change how you view the world.



Yuck, 03 Oct 2008
Even though it was valuable for me to learn what is really going on, I read this book with a mixture of revulsion and horror. I was certainly shocked to learn about the tripartite economic recipe - privatisation, deregulation, and cutbacks in social welfare spending - repeatedly used around the world by a so-called democracy via highly non-democratic means.

In the early years, the primary shock vehicle was dictatorial military force and accompanying fear of - and actual mass use of - arrest, torture, disappearance, or death. Over time, new organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank were employed instead, deliberately creating impossible debt burdens to force governments to accept privatisation, removal of trade barriers and tariffs, and widespread layoffs. In more recent years, these policies have been used on peoples already shocked by terrroism or natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis.

And more and more information along the lines revealed by this book continues to show up - only recently, for example, "New Scientist" (23 July 2008) carried an article stating that, for each year of a country's involvement with the IMF, the TB death rate increased by four per cent on average. This was not because countries with worsening TB attract more IMF attention since the TB rates had been falling, or at least steady, before receiving IMF "help".

Finally, for a more personal view of the same story, read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".


Complex, Compelling, Horrifying, an Important Book, 29 Sep 2008
"The Shock Doctrine" is a thoroughly good read in which Naomi Klein sets out to illustrate the spread of the economic doctrine of the late economist Milton Friedman and of the Chicago School of Economics; to illustrate the use of force (backed by U.S government in a number of cases) by right-wing governments and exploitation of natural disaster and conflict to push through unpopular economic reforms (based on Friedman's doctrine), and how such governments are putting big business first to line their own pockets and those of the corporate sector, leaving the public sector to deteriorate and their nation to grow poorer and poorer.

The book opens with an introduction of Milton Friedman's view of disaster as an opportunity for the practice of free-market economics; how he longed for the chance to test out his theories and how he finally got the chance. Klein discusses research into the effects of psychological shock and then moves onto how this research was then used and abused by the CIA for interrogation purposes. We are then cited a number of case studies in which right-wing governments have used repressive measures to pursue with their economic policies, and the concept of 'planned misery' is developed.

It is when Klein turns onto the subject of shock therapy in the U.S., of the homeland security industry and U.S. management of Iraq vis-a-vis shock therapy becomes slightly inconsistent, something she appears to seek a remedy for, in the case of the latter, with the concept of "pre-emptive shock". This inconsistency itself, however, isn't particularly important because the message is clear enough: with all the back-scratching and dirty dealing going on under Bush, the corporate world has never had it so good.

The penultimate chapter looks at how conflict has benefited the Israeli economy and stock markets, and the final chapter is Klein's hope-inspiring conclusion is that capitalism is finally coming to its end as left-wing governments turn their backs on the U.S and on free-market economics ideas and practices, etc.

"The Shock Doctrine" is a complex book, but Klein's style of writing is ever-refreshing and there's not a dull word in the text, one of the great things about her work. She brilliantly portrays why right-wing big government and big business can be so dangerous. It's a relief to know both have a thorn in its side like Naomi Klein. This is an important book, one not to be missed. I'd definitely recommend it.

Scandal: Sometimes people profit when bad things happen. Film at eleven!, 21 Sep 2008
First, disclosure: I enjoyed No Logo a great deal, it informed a lot of the way I think about corporations and changed the way I bought clothes. I read the Guardian when I get a chance, and am addicted to the Daily Show. So please don't think that my review is based on having a radically different philosophy to Ms Klein.

I didn't like this book. The main thrust of the book is that there are theorists who believe that you can only change things when a big shock to the system happens; an earthquake, 9/11, Katrina, etc. In the aftermath the populace are too shocked and confused to notice free marketers running in to privatize public assets like security or schools. Now in individual cases, I agree this is something to keep an eye on, particularly with companys like Blackwater. But where the author loses me is in tying this together with a history of torture methods of the CIA around electroshock. I didn't really see the relevance of the comparison and it's a thread that weaves its way through the book. There's also a hint of the paranoia seen in conspiracy theorists, throughout, and here is my fundamental problem with that: most people are not evil. They go about their business, try to be good people, and that's that. If a corporation sees an opportunity to make money it's hardly surprising they will do, it doesn't always need to be interepreted as part of an agenda. Sometimes it's just business.

Personally I found the entire topic much less relevant to me than No Logo; what am I supposed to do about the issues explored here other than gripe about them to other lefties to show off how well read I am? At 550 pages this could also have done with being a lot more concise. Overall I'm disappointed that I didn't like this more.

Must read for anyone interested in poverty reduction, 30 Aug 2008
In my work over the last few years, struggling with the issues of development and poverty reduction, and I read a lot of books on the issues. Recently, I read one of the best books in the form of Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion.
Just as Mr. Collier says at the end of his book, discussions on poverty and development have over the last few years been dominated by two extremes: On the one extreme Mr. Jeffrey Sachs call for more aid to "end poverty", and on the other side, William Easterly's negativity that nothing really works (in the books The End of Poverty and The White Man's Burden, respectively).
Mr. Collier strikes a marvelous and necessary balance between these two. On one side, he says about Mr. Sachs:
"At present the clarion call for the left is Jeffrey Sach's book the end of poverty. Much as I agree with Sachs' passionate call to action, I think that he has overplayed the importance of aid. Aid alone will not solve the problems of the bottom billion - we need to use a wider range of policies."
Mr. Sachs is an advocate of more money will solve the problems, but as Mr. Collier puts well in the book, many of the problems related to poverty are structural, from lack of investement, infrastructure, education, conflict, to being landlocked. Some of these problems are not solved just with more money. Unfortunately, this is a tendency in development aid nowadays, perhaps as aid agencies and staff need to justify their existence, even increase it: the need of more money, much of it in the form of budgetary support, which goes directly to a poor country's budget, in ever bigger amounts. But the link to poverty reduction is awkward to say the least: as pointed out in both Easterly's and Collier's book, higher dependence on foreign aid hardly leads to poverty reduction.
How much did I see this in Mozambique: had any of the subsistence farmers I worked with ever benefitted from the Agricultural SWAp...?
Nevertheless, while one cannot argue that aid will help everything, one can not jump into the other side of "Nothing helps" like the old disillusioned Mr. Easterly does (in my personal view Mr. Easterly is the kind of person who would have let slavery continue, not because he agreed with it, but because "we cannot do anything about it"):
"At present the clarion call for the right is economist William Easterly's book The White Man's Burden. Easterly is right to mock the delusions of the aid lobby. But just as Sachs exaggerates the payoff to aid, Easterly exaggerates the downside and again neglects the scope for other policies. We are not as impotent and ignorant as Easterly seems to think."
As Collier amply argues for, there are many situations and examples that aid has helped and alleviated poverty. But as Mr. Collier also amply discusses and argues for, the aid money needs to be allocated in a well-planned way, and not ignoring the context: aid alone is unlikely to help.
I must admit that at first I found the book to start really slowly: Mr. Collier took time to explain his framework for analysis, ennumerating four "traps" which developing countries, or rather, the "bottom billion", the poorest of the poorest caught in a vicious circle of misery of landlockedness, resource trap, conflict and bad governance. These four traps are inter-related and Mr. Collier carefully presents his huge array of statistics to present his argument.
This part was a somewhat tedious read, but after passing this part, the book moves into more interesting areas, namely what can be done about it, the huge dilemmas and difficulties surrounding these issues.
Nevertheless, on a more critical view, the book's argument is built too much on statistics. It makes it powerful, but at the same time one can feel that the argumentation, like with all statistics, is political and absolutist: in social sciences, there are exceptions to all statistics! At the same time, some of the correlations, like for instance between post-conflict situations and democracy, seem so vague that I would never look at a specific situation with that data, but only focus on the context.
Personally, I like that he says it can be done - too often in the world people say: "there have always been poor people, and there always will be". While I don't deny this is true, I find it appalling that this should be used as an excuse: we have always had murders, rape, wars, but nobody in their right mind would say we should do nothing about it!
I like the book, because we finally have a well-written balance abut development aid, something that has been missing for a while as the issue is discussed more and more.

Hard-hitting indictment of development's failure , 01 May 2008
getAbstract finds that this concise, clearly written and hard-hitting book by Paul Collier, one of the world's leading experts on Africa, is a must-read for anyone concerned with development, economic justice, trade, immigration, terrorism and related issues. The author has scant patience with sacred cows of either the right or the left. He penetrates the fictions and fantasies that have helped drive not only unproductive but actually counterproductive policies on aid, trade, investment and more. The book is enlightening, and entertaining in the way that good satire is entertaining. It is also inspiring, since Collier goes beyond merely identifying problems: He offers credible suggestions for solutions.

Beyond the Survival of the Fattest, 30 Apr 2008
While this is a scholarly economics textbook, the author makes a deliberate and commendable effort to keep the language, structure and flow of complex ideas accessible and captivating to the general reader. Its scope and inspiration is universal but the studies are mainly centred on poor African countries caught in various traps: of conflict, dependence on natural resources, bad governance and unfavourable geography including unhelpful neighbours, harsh topography and bleak climate. Collier's basic message is upbeat: none of the traps is inescapable, in spite of the current low rate and low probability of sustained exit from a trap for the billion or so living in the no or negative growth countries.

In the first part of the book, the author draws on extensive in-depth collaborative research to make very subtle analyses of the relationship between conflict and under development. Regrettably, the end result has sometimes the ring of the medieval disputations on the sex of angels. The direction of causation is rarely straight forward even after exhaustive wading through pools of data.

The problem of human as well as financial capital flight as an obstacle to economic growth is dealt with at greater length and cogency. The new approach here involves treating the emigration of skilled and unskilled labour and expatriation of financial resources in the same way as a risk mitigation strategy for the individual. To retain both funds and skills will require elimination of the perceived investment risk profile of the country.

But how can we reduce the growth-negating resource capture by the elite, from aid, natural resources such as oil and minerals? Collier cites the impact of the Extractive Resources Transparency Initiative and the Charter on Blood Diamonds as instances of a fairly effective multilateral approach.

The author further explores the self-perpetuating monster of poor governance, underscoring the need to put in place effective mechanisms for restraint: electoral competition, checks and balances, an independent judiciary and a free press. He shows how publicising budgetary allocations and disbursements for specific projects in the media allows for and encourages follow up by beneficiaries and vigilance by civil society groups to minimise or eliminate leakages. With a wry sense of humour, he advocates the repeal of the law of the political jungle, aptly termed "the survival of the fattest", noting that where patronage politics is feasible, electoral competition encourages the bribery of opinion makers or community leaders instead of using the provision of public services as an electoral argument, leaving the corrupt as the winners.

Should military intervention be an option? Contrasting Iraq and Kosovo, Somalia and Sierra Leone, he sees it as an option that should not be discarded but rather managed with utmost care and resolve. Will freer international trade, as promoted by WTO, help the poorest countries break out of the traps? Collier has doubts and makes a case for the AGOA type of initiative which involves positive discrimination; a handicap race where the Asian front runners have their feet shackled in tariffs to facilitate the entry of products from the poorest African countries. But beyond the traditional instruments of aid and trade, the emphasis of the G8 and other actors in development needs to shift towards issues of security strategies coupled with the application of internationally sanctioned norms and standards of equity and governance.


The Bottom Billion, 06 Apr 2008
I find Paul Collier's book(The Bottom Billion) interesting to read. He easily highlights Many of the economic difficulties facing the poorest countries in the world. He then suggests multi-faced approach that can be applied to tackle some of the issues he highlighted, not only by the poor countries themselves but also by the so called "donor" countries.

Much of Paul's argument is based on data collected by international organization such as IMF and The World Bank and so on. When reading through the pages you would meet some high ranking individuals in these countries, i.e. the Finance minister, but rarely the ordinary person in the street and the challenges he/she faces. In my opinion this is the main weakness of this book. It's a top down approach. He does not talk so much about some of the side effects that export driven policies had on these countries such as planting crops for export in the best available land instead of the staple food of the country which people need to survive. Overall very good book, though I encourage Paul to get out of the big hotels and ministerial headquarters and meet ordinary people next time he visits one of these countries.


A joy to read, 02 Jan 2008
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.

yes but..., 13 Nov 2008
Readable, passionate, but... if true, the latest financial crash would have seen another swift extension of market power. But does govt control or ownership of the banks, talk of aggressive new regulation or the 'end of capitalism' sound like capitalism making hay? Are we really seeing a retreat from govt or state activity in the face of recession?

On the contrary, this latest shock is widely described as a disaster for capitalism. The doctrine fails its first test. The former chairman of the Federal reserve - Alan Greenspan - talks about this shock as though it has fundamentally undermined the theoretical constructs of capitalism by showing the weakness of self interest. When the priests are becoming apostates, how can the shock be said to further their former creed? The conclusion has to be that this book is an aggressively selective reading of the evidence. As such, it might apply historically to some cases and is an interesting description of the manner in which some people find profit in any event, but does not come close to holding up as a doctrine. Overall, it strains far too hard and becomes less convincing with every doctrinaire assertion of its own. Having read the blurb about a methodical approach to data, I then read the the author's suggestion of an alignment of capitalism and torture with disbelief. This is not evidence, it is polemic, and occasionally whacky polemic at that. Spirited, but flawed.

Totally mindblowing, 30 Oct 2008
This is my first ever review on Amazon. No book has ever moved me to want to take action before like The Shock Dcotrine. Ok, so writing an Amazon review isn't going to change the world but getting as many people as possible to read this book is a step in the right direction.

A friend who recommended the book to me said it was powerful, but I wasn't prepared for just how powerful. Page after page I felt real physical rage and disbelief at how these horrific and world changing events have been happening for decades (and continue to happen) and yet have remained so under the radar of most of us.

Describing the contents of the book has been done very eloquently in other reviews, so I won't repeat that here. But I will just say PLEASE, whatever your political colour, however sceptical you are, PLEASE read this book, it will change how you view the world.



Yuck, 03 Oct 2008
Even though it was valuable for me to learn what is really going on, I read this book with a mixture of revulsion and horror. I was certainly shocked to learn about the tripartite economic recipe - privatisation, deregulation, and cutbacks in social welfare spending - repeatedly used around the world by a so-called democracy via highly non-democratic means.

In the early years, the primary shock vehicle was dictatorial military force and accompanying fear of - and actual mass use of - arrest, torture, disappearance, or death. Over time, new organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank were employed instead, deliberately creating impossible debt burdens to force governments to accept privatisation, removal of trade barriers and tariffs, and widespread layoffs. In more recent years, these policies have been used on peoples already shocked by terrroism or natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis.

And more and more information along the lines revealed by this book continues to show up - only recently, for example, "New Scientist" (23 July 2008) carried an article stating that, for each year of a country's involvement with the IMF, the TB death rate increased by four per cent on average. This was not because countries with worsening TB attract more IMF attention since the TB rates had been falling, or at least steady, before receiving IMF "help".

Finally, for a more personal view of the same story, read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".


Complex, Compelling, Horrifying, an Important Book, 29 Sep 2008
"The Shock Doctrine" is a thoroughly good read in which Naomi Klein sets out to illustrate the spread of the economic doctrine of the late economist Milton Friedman and of the Chicago School of Economics; to illustrate the use of force (backed by U.S government in a number of cases) by right-wing governments and exploitation of natural disaster and conflict to push through unpopular economic reforms (based on Friedman's doctrine), and how such governments are putting big business first to line their own pockets and those of the corporate sector, leaving the public sector to deteriorate and their nation to grow poorer and poorer.

The book opens with an introduction of Milton Friedman's view of disaster as an opportunity for the practice of free-market economics; how he longed for the chance to test out his theories and how he finally got the chance. Klein discusses research into the effects of psychological shock and then moves onto how this research was then used and abused by the CIA for interrogation purposes. We are then cited a number of case studies in which right-wing governments have used repressive measures to pursue with their economic policies, and the concept of 'planned misery' is developed.

It is when Klein turns onto the subject of shock therapy in the U.S., of the homeland security industry and U.S. management of Iraq vis-a-vis shock therapy becomes slightly inconsistent, something she appears to seek a remedy for, in the case of the latter, with the concept of "pre-emptive shock". This inconsistency itself, however, isn't particularly important because the message is clear enough: with all the back-scratching and dirty dealing going on under Bush, the corporate world has never had it so good.

The penultimate chapter looks at how conflict has benefited the Israeli economy and stock markets, and the final chapter is Klein's hope-inspiring conclusion is that capitalism is finally coming to its end as left-wing governments turn their backs on the U.S and on free-market economics ideas and practices, etc.

"The Shock Doctrine" is a complex book, but Klein's style of writing is ever-refreshing and there's not a dull word in the text, one of the great things about her work. She brilliantly portrays why right-wing big government and big business can be so dangerous. It's a relief to know both have a thorn in its side like Naomi Klein. This is an important book, one not to be missed. I'd definitely recommend it.

Scandal: Sometimes people profit when bad things happen. Film at eleven!, 21 Sep 2008
First, disclosure: I enjoyed No Logo a great deal, it informed a lot of the way I think about corporations and changed the way I bought clothes. I read the Guardian when I get a chance, and am addicted to the Daily Show. So please don't think that my review is based on having a radically different philosophy to Ms Klein.

I didn't like this book. The main thrust of the book is that there are theorists who believe that you can only change things when a big shock to the system happens; an earthquake, 9/11, Katrina, etc. In the aftermath the populace are too shocked and confused to notice free marketers running in to privatize public assets like security or schools. Now in individual cases, I agree this is something to keep an eye on, particularly with companys like Blackwater. But where the author loses me is in tying this together with a history of torture methods of the CIA around electroshock. I didn't really see the relevance of the comparison and it's a thread that weaves its way through the book. There's also a hint of the paranoia seen in conspiracy theorists, throughout, and here is my fundamental problem with that: most people are not evil. They go about their business, try to be good people, and that's that. If a corporation sees an opportunity to make money it's hardly surprising they will do, it doesn't always need to be interepreted as part of an agenda. Sometimes it's just business.

Personally I found the entire topic much less relevant to me than No Logo; what am I supposed to do about the issues explored here other than gripe about them to other lefties to show off how well read I am? At 550 pages this could also have done with being a lot more concise. Overall I'm disappointed that I didn't like this more.

Must read for anyone interested in poverty reduction, 30 Aug 2008
In my work over the last few years, struggling with the issues of development and poverty reduction, and I read a lot of books on the issues. Recently, I read one of the best books in the form of Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion.
Just as Mr. Collier says at the end of his book, discussions on poverty and development have over the last few years been dominated by two extremes: On the one extreme Mr. Jeffrey Sachs call for more aid to "end poverty", and on the other side, William Easterly's negativity that nothing really works (in the books The End of Poverty and The White Man's Burden, respectively).
Mr. Collier strikes a marvelous and necessary balance between these two. On one side, he says about Mr. Sachs:
"At present the clarion call for the left is Jeffrey Sach's book the end of poverty. Much as I agree with Sachs' passionate call to action, I think that he has overplayed the importance of aid. Aid alone will not solve the problems of the bottom billion - we need to use a wider range of policies."
Mr. Sachs is an advocate of more money will solve the problems, but as Mr. Collier puts well in the book, many of the problems related to poverty are structural, from lack of investement, infrastructure, education, conflict, to being landlocked. Some of these problems are not solved just with more money. Unfortunately, this is a tendency in development aid nowadays, perhaps as aid agencies and staff need to justify their existence, even increase it: the need of more money, much of it in the form of budgetary support, which goes directly to a poor country's budget, in ever bigger amounts. But the link to poverty reduction is awkward to say the least: as pointed out in both Easterly's and Collier's book, higher dependence on foreign aid hardly leads to poverty reduction.
How much did I see this in Mozambique: had any of the subsistence farmers I worked with ever benefitted from the Agricultural SWAp...?
Nevertheless, while one cannot argue that aid will help everything, one can not jump into the other side of "Nothing helps" like the old disillusioned Mr. Easterly does (in my personal view Mr. Easterly is the kind of person who would have let slavery continue, not because he agreed with it, but because "we cannot do anything about it"):
"At present the clarion call for the right is economist William Easterly's book The White Man's Burden. Easterly is right to mock the delusions of the aid lobby. But just as Sachs exaggerates the payoff to aid, Easterly exaggerates the downside and again neglects the scope for other policies. We are not as impotent and ignorant as Easterly seems to think."
As Collier amply argues for, there are many situations and examples that aid has helped and alleviated poverty. But as Mr. Collier also amply discusses and argues for, the aid money needs to be allocated in a well-planned way, and not ignoring the context: aid alone is unlikely to help.
I must admit that at first I found the book to start really slowly: Mr. Collier took time to explain his framework for analysis, ennumerating four "traps" which developing countries, or rather, the "bottom billion", the poorest of the poorest caught in a vicious circle of misery of landlockedness, resource trap, conflict and bad governance. These four traps are inter-related and Mr. Collier carefully presents his huge array of statistics to present his argument.
This part was a somewhat tedious read, but after passing this part, the book moves into more interesting areas, namely what can be done about it, the huge dilemmas and difficulties surrounding these issues.
Nevertheless, on a more critical view, the book's argument is built too much on statistics. It makes it powerful, but at the same time one can feel that the argumentation, like with all statistics, is political and absolutist: in social sciences, there are exceptions to all statistics! At the same time, some of the correlations, like for instance between post-conflict situations and democracy, seem so vague that I would never look at a specific situation with that data, but only focus on the context.
Personally, I like that he says it can be done - too often in the world people say: "there have always been poor people, and there always will be". While I don't deny this is true, I find it appalling that this should be used as an excuse: we have always had murders, rape, wars, but nobody in their right mind would say we should do nothing about it!
I like the book, because we finally have a well-written balance abut development aid, something that has been missing for a while as the issue is discussed more and more.

Hard-hitting indictment of development's failure , 01 May 2008
getAbstract finds that this concise, clearly written and hard-hitting book by Paul Collier, one of the world's leading experts on Africa, is a must-read for anyone concerned with development, economic justice, trade, immigration, terrorism and related issues. The author has scant patience with sacred cows of either the right or the left. He penetrates the fictions and fantasies that have helped drive not only unproductive but actually counterproductive policies on aid, trade, investment and more. The book is enlightening, and entertaining in the way that good satire is entertaining. It is also inspiring, since Collier goes beyond merely identifying problems: He offers credible suggestions for solutions.

Beyond the Survival of the Fattest, 30 Apr 2008
While this is a scholarly economics textbook, the author makes a deliberate and commendable effort to keep the language, structure and flow of complex ideas accessible and captivating to the general reader. Its scope and inspiration is universal but the studies are mainly centred on poor African countries caught in various traps: of conflict, dependence on natural resources, bad governance and unfavourable geography including unhelpful neighbours, harsh topography and bleak climate. Collier's basic message is upbeat: none of the traps is inescapable, in spite of the current low rate and low probability of sustained exit from a trap for the billion or so living in the no or negative growth countries.

In the first part of the book, the author draws on extensive in-depth collaborative research to make very subtle analyses of the relationship between conflict and under development. Regrettably, the end result has sometimes the ring of the medieval disputations on the sex of angels. The direction of causation is rarely straight forward even after exhaustive wading through pools of data.

The problem of human as well as financial capital flight as an obstacle to economic growth is dealt with at greater length and cogency. The new approach here involves treating the emigration of skilled and unskilled labour and expatriation of financial resources in the same way as a risk mitigation strategy for the individual. To retain both funds and skills will require elimination of the perceived investment risk profile of the country.

But how can we reduce the growth-negating resource capture by the elite, from aid, natural resources such as oil and minerals? Collier cites the impact of the Extractive Resources Transparency Initiative and the Charter on Blood Diamonds as instances of a fairly effective multilateral approach.

The author further explores the self-perpetuating monster of poor governance, underscoring the need to put in place effective mechanisms for restraint: electoral competition, checks and balances, an independent judiciary and a free press. He shows how publicising budgetary allocations and disbursements for specific projects in the media allows for and encourages follow up by beneficiaries and vigilance by civil society groups to minimise or eliminate leakages. With a wry sense of humour, he advocates the repeal of the law of the political jungle, aptly termed "the survival of the fattest", noting that where patronage politics is feasible, electoral competition encourages the bribery of opinion makers or community leaders instead of using the provision of public services as an electoral argument, leaving the corrupt as the winners.

Should military intervention be an option? Contrasting Iraq and Kosovo, Somalia and Sierra Leone, he sees it as an option that should not be discarded but rather managed with utmost care and resolve. Will freer international trade, as promoted by WTO, help the poorest countries break out of the traps? Collier has doubts and makes a case for the AGOA type of initiative which involves positive discrimination; a handicap race where the Asian front runners have their feet shackled in tariffs to facilitate the entry of products from the poorest African countries. But beyond the traditional instruments of aid and trade, the emphasis of the G8 and other actors in development needs to shift towards issues of security strategies coupled with the application of internationally sanctioned norms and standards of equity and governance.


The Bottom Billion, 06 Apr 2008
I find Paul Collier's book(The Bottom Billion) interesting to read. He easily highlights Many of the economic difficulties facing the poorest countries in the world. He then suggests multi-faced approach that can be applied to tackle some of the issues he highlighted, not only by the poor countries themselves but also by the so called "donor" countries.

Much of Paul's argument is based on data collected by international organization such as IMF and The World Bank and so on. When reading through the pages you would meet some high ranking individuals in these countries, i.e. the Finance minister, but rarely the ordinary person in the street and the challenges he/she faces. In my opinion this is the main weakness of this book. It's a top down approach. He does not talk so much about some of the side effects that export driven policies had on these countries such as planting crops for export in the best available land instead of the staple food of the country which people need to survive. Overall very good book, though I encourage Paul to get out of the big hotels and ministerial headquarters and meet ordinary people next time he visits one of these countries.


A joy to read, 02 Jan 2008
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.



A Call for Laws, Regulations, and Tax Incentives for Encouraging Conservation and Clean Energy Use, 14 Oct 2008
If you oppose conservation and clean energy, I wonder why you would. Typical concerns relate to when conservation and clean energy reduce economic growth or reduce profits for some special interest in the near term. Longer term, most people would agree that conservation and clean energy make sense.

Journalist and social activist Thomas L. Friedman could have written a much shorter book if he had simply started with the premise that it's a good idea to have conservation and clean energy. He spends most of the book providing arguments in favor of those approaches.

Those arguments are related to these propositions:

1. Rising carbon dioxide levels are either causing global warming and more violent weather . . . or will at some point fairly soon.
2. Rapid population growth and concentration into urban areas are making pollution a greater problem.
3. Fast economic growth in the developing world is accelerating pollution.
4. Natural environments are disappearing at a rapid rate, taking with them weather-dampening resources and species which might have value that we don't yet appreciate.
5. Free markets encourage polluting rather than nonpolluting solutions.
6. Extractive energy sources encourage dictatorships, terrorism, and harm to women.

Most of these points are exemplified by an anecdote from when Mr. Friedman talked to someone while on a speaking tour, was traveling from country to country, or was helicoptering around to see some sight that interested him. Much of this book has a travelogue aspect, even though it is a book about social change.

When Mr. Friedman gets into his arguments in favor of laws, regulations, and tax incentives, his thesis is sometimes contradictory. He argues that it is more profitable to use conservation and clean energy, yet cites lots of business leaders who seem to say that they won't employ those methods unless forced to by laws, regulations, and tax incentives. That argument didn't make sense to me. It also seems like many countries are already using laws, regulations, and tax incentives to encourage conservation and clean energy use. If those approaches are a good idea, there should be all kinds of incentives to change.

The crux of Mr. Friedman's argument in favor of these governmental changes is that it is critical that the United States do more in these areas than anyone else for the following reasons:

1. It will be a competitive disadvantage to lag in these areas.
2. Economic growth in the United States depends on creating a large clean energy and conservation industry.
3. Safety from the Muslim world depends on these activities, as well.
4. Other countries will do more in these areas if the U.S. goes first.
5. People in other countries will support more change if U.S. consumers are making these changes.

The major flaw in this thesis is that the United States government can make such a large change and sustain it for several decades. Since the 1960s, there has been little consensus in the United States on any changes other than ones that favor growth of individual incomes and wealth in the short term.

The current economic crisis will put a heavy burden on economic growth for many years to come. The pending retirement of the baby boom generation will be an even heavier weight to carry.

I suspect that there will be little appetite for government to lead such changes.

Ultimately, I suspect that a more likely path to success in making these changes would be for state, city, and county governments to boycott suppliers who don't use clean energy and employ good conservation practices. Action at those levels of government often works, doesn't take a long time, and is already being successful in areas like California.

I praise Mr. Friedman for wanting to encourage conservation and use of clean energy, but I fear that he needs to spend more time thinking about how to do that . . . and less time on arguing for national changes in U.S. laws, regulations, and tax incentives. With our political system, I think he is whistling in the dark.

What do you think?

Doable, Win-Win Plan, 09 Sep 2008

In Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America, Thomas Friedman presents an irresistible opportunity for Americans--one that can save the planet and increase our wealth.

The world is flat because of globalization--which is good, as ideas and practices can spread effectively. What is not so good is that our world population is exploding and countries like India and China are seeing an increase in wealth, which puts more strain on the world's resources and increases global warming.

Friedman begins the book with a discussion of how America has changed post 9/11. He uses the example of the US consulate built in 1882 in Istanbul. The consulate was built in the heart of the city: "it was an easy place for Turks to get a VISA, to peruse the library or to engage with an American diplomat."

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the building was closed and a nearly impenetrable consulate was built. This all but stopped visitors from visiting. Although the new building does protect against attacks, it isolates Americans and impacts on how we are viewed and how we see ourselves.

Friedman writes that he wrote the book because: "An American living in a defensive crouch cannot fully tap the vast rivers of idealism, innovation, volunteerism, and philanthropy that still flow through our nation. And it cannot play the vital role it has long played for the rest of the world--as a beacon of hope and the country that we can always be counted on to lead the world in response to whatever is the most important challenge of the day."

That challenge is global warming. He proposes we begin a massive project called "code green."

Friedman identifies three broad trends in our society:
1. The post 9/11 building of walls around us to protect Americans from foreigners.
2. Since the 1980's, politicians acting "dumb as we wanna be," meaning we will get to fixing the roads, global warming and other issues when we get around to it. This includes politicians like Bush "protecting us" from gas taxes and other unpleasantries to keep our standard of living, or the fact that we are in war and don't have to make any sacrifices (save the soldier's lives.)
3. Nation building at home. This is the one good trend Friedman sees and he writes about the plethora of innovative, imaginative souls who devote their energy to finding green solutions.

Friedman considers what is now called the green movement to be more like a green party. He cites several "green" books that include the words "easy" or "lazy" in the titles. The authors write books where: "everyone is a winner, nobody gets hurt and nobody has to do anything hard." I have read several of these books and agree--much of the advice is fluff. However, I do see the recent deluge of books and articles on sustainability as changing the consciousness and buying habits of the country. Many people who begin by making "painless changes" get serious about the environment and one or two of them may be the next inventor of the solar-run car. I also believe that when millions cut down on the use of plastic and other nonrenewable resources, that it does make an environmental difference.

The increase in population and wealth and buying power all tax our already limited supply of petroleum, coal and gas--all substances that cause global warming and pollute our planet. Even if you didn't "believe" in global warming, it is a fact that petroleum--now needed in unprecedented amounts--is rapidly becoming an increasingly difficult product to procure. If you think spending $5.00 a gallon for gas for your car is a hardship, that price will be considered nothing in a few years. Folks, we are running out of time and oil.

Friedman gets that Americans can use the diminishing supply in nonrenewable resources as a means for an economic boom, for bridging the widening gap between Americans and the rest of the world and for drawing us together as a nation. Americans are an innovative and smart bunch of people and we need to get working on devising clean alternatives to fossil fuels. This will create more jobs, strong economic times and raised spirits.

Friedman presents a doable, win-win plan to raise wealth and to save the planet. A must-read.

By the author of the award winning book, HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT: BEAUTIFY, DETOXIFY & ENEGIZE YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME & YOUR PLANET.

yes but..., 13 Nov 2008
Readable, passionate, but... if true, the latest financial crash would have seen another swift extension of market power. But does govt control or ownership of the banks, talk of aggressive new regulation or the 'end of capitalism' sound like capitalism making hay? Are we really seeing a retreat from govt or state activity in the face of recession?

On the contrary, this latest shock is widely described as a disaster for capitalism. The doctrine fails its first test. The former chairman of the Federal reserve - Alan Greenspan - talks about this shock as though it has fundamentally undermined the theoretical constructs of capitalism by showing the weakness of self interest. When the priests are becoming apostates, how can the shock be said to further their former creed? The conclusion has to be that this book is an aggressively selective reading of the evidence. As such, it might apply historically to some cases and is an interesting description of the manner in which some people find profit in any event, but does not come close to holding up as a doctrine. Overall, it strains far too hard and becomes less convincing with every doctrinaire assertion of its own. Having read the blurb about a methodical approach to data, I then read the the author's suggestion of an alignment of capitalism and torture with disbelief. This is not evidence, it is polemic, and occasionally whacky polemic at that. Spirited, but flawed.

Totally mindblowing, 30 Oct 2008
This is my first ever review on Amazon. No book has ever moved me to want to take action before like The Shock Dcotrine. Ok, so writing an Amazon review isn't going to change the world but getting as many people as possible to read this book is a step in the right direction.

A friend who recommended the book to me said it was powerful, but I wasn't prepared for just how powerful. Page after page I felt real physical rage and disbelief at how these horrific and world changing events have been happening for decades (and continue to happen) and yet have remained so under the radar of most of us.

Describing the contents of the book has been done very eloquently in other reviews, so I won't repeat that here. But I will just say PLEASE, whatever your political colour, however sceptical you are, PLEASE read this book, it will change how you view the world.



Yuck, 03 Oct 2008
Even though it was valuable for me to learn what is really going on, I read this book with a mixture of revulsion and horror. I was certainly shocked to learn about the tripartite economic recipe - privatisation, deregulation, and cutbacks in social welfare spending - repeatedly used around the world by a so-called democracy via highly non-democratic means.

In the early years, the primary shock vehicle was dictatorial military force and accompanying fear of - and actual mass use of - arrest, torture, disappearance, or death. Over time, new organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank were employed instead, deliberately creating impossible debt burdens to force governments to accept privatisation, removal of trade barriers and tariffs, and widespread layoffs. In more recent years, these policies have been used on peoples already shocked by terrroism or natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis.

And more and more information along the lines revealed by this book continues to show up - only recently, for example, "New Scientist" (23 July 2008) carried an article stating that, for each year of a country's involvement with the IMF, the TB death rate increased by four per cent on average. This was not because countries with worsening TB attract more IMF attention since the TB rates had been falling, or at least steady, before receiving IMF "help".

Finally, for a more personal view of the same story, read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".


Complex, Compelling, Horrifying, an Important Book, 29 Sep 2008
"The Shock Doctrine" is a thoroughly good read in which Naomi Klein sets out to illustrate the spread of the economic doctrine of the late economist Milton Friedman and of the Chicago School of Economics; to illustrate the use of force (backed by U.S government in a number of cases) by right-wing governments and exploitation of natural disaster and conflict to push through unpopular economic reforms (based on Friedman's doctrine), and how such governments are putting big business first to line their own pockets and those of the corporate sector, leaving the public sector to deteriorate and their nation to grow poorer and poorer.

The book opens with an introduction of Milton Friedman's view of disaster as an opportunity for the practice of free-market economics; how he longed for the chance to test out his theories and how he finally got the chance. Klein discusses research into the effects of psychological shock and then moves onto how this research was then used and abused by the CIA for interrogation purposes. We are then cited a number of case studies in which right-wing governments have used repressive measures to pursue with their economic policies, and the concept of 'planned misery' is developed.

It is when Klein turns onto the subject of shock therapy in the U.S., of the homeland security industry and U.S. management of Iraq vis-a-vis shock therapy becomes slightly inconsistent, something she appears to seek a remedy for, in the case of the latter, with the concept of "pre-emptive shock". This inconsistency itself, however, isn't particularly important because the message is clear enough: with all the back-scratching and dirty dealing going on under Bush, the corporate world has never had it so good.

The penultimate chapter looks at how conflict has benefited the Israeli economy and stock markets, and the final chapter is Klein's hope-inspiring conclusion is that capitalism is finally coming to its end as left-wing governments turn their backs on the U.S and on free-market economics ideas and practices, etc.

"The Shock Doctrine" is a complex book, but Klein's style of writing is ever-refreshing and there's not a dull word in the text, one of the great things about her work. She brilliantly portrays why right-wing big government and big business can be so dangerous. It's a relief to know both have a thorn in its side like Naomi Klein. This is an important book, one not to be missed. I'd definitely recommend it.

Scandal: Sometimes people profit when bad things happen. Film at eleven!, 21 Sep 2008
First, disclosure: I enjoyed No Logo a great deal, it informed a lot of the way I think about corporations and changed the way I bought clothes. I read the Guardian when I get a chance, and am addicted to the Daily Show. So please don't think that my review is based on having a radically different philosophy to Ms Klein.

I didn't like this book. The main thrust of the book is that there are theorists who believe that you can only change things when a big shock to the system happens; an earthquake, 9/11, Katrina, etc. In the aftermath the populace are too shocked and confused to notice free marketers running in to privatize public assets like security or schools. Now in individual cases, I agree this is something to keep an eye on, particularly with companys like Blackwater. But where the author loses me is in tying this together with a history of torture methods of the CIA around electroshock. I didn't really see the relevance of the comparison and it's a thread that weaves its way through the book. There's also a hint of the paranoia seen in conspiracy theorists, throughout, and here is my fundamental problem with that: most people are not evil. They go about their business, try to be good people, and that's that. If a corporation sees an opportunity to make money it's hardly surprising they will do, it doesn't always need to be interepreted as part of an agenda. Sometimes it's just business.

Personally I found the entire topic much less relevant to me than No Logo; what am I supposed to do about the issues explored here other than gripe about them to other lefties to show off how well read I am? At 550 pages this could also have done with being a lot more concise. Overall I'm disappointed that I didn't like this more.

Must read for anyone interested in poverty reduction, 30 Aug 2008
In my work over the last few years, struggling with the issues of development and poverty reduction, and I read a lot of books on the issues. Recently, I read one of the best books in the form of Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion.
Just as Mr. Collier says at the end of his book, discussions on poverty and development have over the last few years been dominated by two extremes: On the one extreme Mr. Jeffrey Sachs call for more aid to "end poverty", and on the other side, William Easterly's negativity that nothing really works (in the books The End of Poverty and The White Man's Burden, respectively).
Mr. Collier strikes a marvelous and necessary balance between these two. On one side, he says about Mr. Sachs:
"At present the clarion call for the left is Jeffrey Sach's book the end of poverty. Much as I agree with Sachs' passionate call to action, I think that he has overplayed the importance of aid. Aid alone will not solve the problems of the bottom billion - we need to use a wider range of policies."
Mr. Sachs is an advocate of more money will solve the problems, but as Mr. Collier puts well in the book, many of the problems related to poverty are structural, from lack of investement, infrastructure, education, conflict, to being landlocked. Some of these problems are not solved just with more money. Unfortunately, this is a tendency in development aid nowadays, perhaps as aid agencies and staff need to justify their existence, even increase it: the need of more money, much of it in the form of budgetary support, which goes directly to a poor country's budget, in ever bigger amounts. But the link to poverty reduction is awkward to say the least: as pointed out in both Easterly's and Collier's book, higher dependence on foreign aid hardly leads to poverty reduction.
How much did I see this in Mozambique: had any of the subsistence farmers I worked with ever benefitted from the Agricultural SWAp...?
Nevertheless, while one cannot argue that aid will help everything, one can not jump into the other side of "Nothing helps" like the old disillusioned Mr. Easterly does (in my personal view Mr. Easterly is the kind of person who would have let slavery continue, not because he agreed with it, but because "we cannot do anything about it"):
"At present the clarion call for the right is economist William Easterly's book The White Man's Burden. Easterly is right to mock the delusions of the aid lobby. But just as Sachs exaggerates the payoff to aid, Easterly exaggerates the downside and again neglects the scope for other policies. We are not as impotent and ignorant as Easterly seems to think."
As Collier amply argues for, there are many situations and examples that aid has helped and alleviated poverty. But as Mr. Collier also amply discusses and argues for, the aid money needs to be allocated in a well-planned way, and not ignoring the context: aid alone is unlikely to help.
I must admit that at first I found the book to start really slowly: Mr. Collier took time to explain his framework for analysis, ennumerating four "traps" which developing countries, or rather, the "bottom billion", the poorest of the poorest caught in a vicious circle of misery of landlockedness, resource trap, conflict and bad governance. These four traps are inter-related and Mr. Collier carefully presents his huge array of statistics to present his argument.
This part was a somewhat tedious read, but after passing this part, the book moves into more interesting areas, namely what can be done about it, the huge dilemmas and difficulties surrounding these issues.
Nevertheless, on a more critical view, the book's argument is built too much on statistics. It makes it powerful, but at the same time one can feel that the argumentation, like with all statistics, is political and absolutist: in social sciences, there are exceptions to all statistics! At the same time, some of the correlations, like for instance between post-conflict situations and democracy, seem so vague that I would never look at a specific situation with that data, but only focus on the context.
Personally, I like that he says it can be done - too often in the world people say: "there have always been poor people, and there always will be". While I don't deny this is true, I find it appalling that this should be used as an excuse: we have always had murders, rape, wars, but nobody in their right mind would say we should do nothing about it!
I like the book, because we finally have a well-written balance abut development aid, something that has been missing for a while as the issue is discussed more and more.

Hard-hitting indictment of development's failure , 01 May 2008
getAbstract finds that this concise, clearly written and hard-hitting book by Paul Collier, one of the world's leading experts on Africa, is a must-read for anyone concerned with development, economic justice, trade, immigration, terrorism and related issues. The author has scant patience with sacred cows of either the right or the left. He penetrates the fictions and fantasies that have helped drive not only unproductive but actually counterproductive policies on aid, trade, investment and more. The book is enlightening, and entertaining in the way that good satire is entertaining. It is also inspiring, since Collier goes beyond merely identifying problems: He offers credible suggestions for solutions.

Beyond the Survival of the Fattest, 30 Apr 2008
While this is a scholarly economics textbook, the author makes a deliberate and commendable effort to keep the language, structure and flow of complex ideas accessible and captivating to the general reader. Its scope and inspiration is universal but the studies are mainly centred on poor African countries caught in various traps: of conflict, dependence on natural resources, bad governance and unfavourable geography including unhelpful neighbours, harsh topography and bleak climate. Collier's basic message is upbeat: none of the traps is inescapable, in spite of the current low rate and low probability of sustained exit from a trap for the billion or so living in the no or negative growth countries.

In the first part of the book, the author draws on extensive in-depth collaborative research to make very subtle analyses of the relationship between conflict and under development. Regrettably, the end result has sometimes the ring of the medieval disputations on the sex of angels. The direction of causation is rarely straight forward even after exhaustive wading through pools of data.

The problem of human as well as financial capital flight as an obstacle to economic growth is dealt with at greater length and cogency. The new approach here involves treating the emigration of skilled and unskilled labour and expatriation of financial resources in the same way as a risk mitigation strategy for the individual. To retain both funds and skills will require elimination of the perceived investment risk profile of the country.

But how can we reduce the growth-negating resource capture by the elite, from aid, natural resources such as oil and minerals? Collier cites the impact of the Extractive Resources Transparency Initiative and the Charter on Blood Diamonds as instances of a fairly effective multilateral approach.

The author further explores the self-perpetuating monster of poor governance, underscoring the need to put in place effective mechanisms for restraint: electoral competition, checks and balances, an independent judiciary and a free press. He shows how publicising budgetary allocations and disbursements for specific projects in the media allows for and encourages follow up by beneficiaries and vigilance by civil society groups to minimise or eliminate leakages. With a wry sense of humour, he advocates the repeal of the law of the political jungle, aptly termed "the survival of the fattest", noting that where patronage politics is feasible, electoral competition encourages the bribery of opinion makers or community leaders instead of using the provision of public services as an electoral argument, leaving the corrupt as the winners.

Should military intervention be an option? Contrasting Iraq and Kosovo, Somalia and Sierra Leone, he sees it as an option that should not be discarded but rather managed with utmost care and resolve. Will freer international trade, as promoted by WTO, help the poorest countries break out of the traps? Collier has doubts and makes a case for the AGOA type of initiative which involves positive discrimination; a handicap race where the Asian front runners have their feet shackled in tariffs to facilitate the entry of products from the poorest African countries. But beyond the traditional instruments of aid and trade, the emphasis of the G8 and other actors in development needs to shift towards issues of security strategies coupled with the application of internationally sanctioned norms and standards of equity and governance.


The Bottom Billion, 06 Apr 2008
I find Paul Collier's book(The Bottom Billion) interesting to read. He easily highlights Many of the economic difficulties facing the poorest countries in the world. He then suggests multi-faced approach that can be applied to tackle some of the issues he highlighted, not only by the poor countries themselves but also by the so called "donor" countries.

Much of Paul's argument is based on data collected by international organization such as IMF and The World Bank and so on. When reading through the pages you would meet some high ranking individuals in these countries, i.e. the Finance minister, but rarely the ordinary person in the street and the challenges he/she faces. In my opinion this is the main weakness of this book. It's a top down approach. He does not talk so much about some of the side effects that export driven policies had on these countries such as planting crops for export in the best available land instead of the staple food of the country which people need to survive. Overall very good book, though I encourage Paul to get out of the big hotels and ministerial headquarters and meet ordinary people next time he visits one of these countries.


A joy to read, 02 Jan 2008
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.



A Call for Laws, Regulations, and Tax Incentives for Encouraging Conservation and Clean Energy Use, 14 Oct 2008
If you oppose conservation and clean energy, I wonder why you would. Typical concerns relate to when conservation and clean energy reduce economic growth or reduce profits for some special interest in the near term. Longer term, most people would agree that conservation and clean energy make sense.

Journalist and social activist Thomas L. Friedman could have written a much shorter book if he had simply started with the premise that it's a good idea to have conservation and clean energy. He spends most of the book providing arguments in favor of those approaches.

Those arguments are related to these propositions:

1. Rising carbon dioxide levels are either causing global warming and more violent weather . . . or will at some point fairly soon.
2. Rapid population growth and concentration into urban areas are making pollution a greater problem.
3. Fast economic growth in the developing world is accelerating pollution.
4. Natural environments are disappearing at a rapid rate, taking with them weather-dampening resources and species which might have value that we don't yet appreciate.
5. Free markets encourage polluting rather than nonpolluting solutions.
6. Extractive energy sources encourage dictatorships, terrorism, and harm to women.

Most of these points are exemplified by an anecdote from when Mr. Friedman talked to someone while on a speaking tour, was traveling from country to country, or was helicoptering around to see some sight that interested him. Much of this book has a travelogue aspect, even though it is a book about social change.

When Mr. Friedman gets into his arguments in favor of laws, regulations, and tax incentives, his thesis is sometimes contradictory. He argues that it is more profitable to use conservation and clean energy, yet cites lots of business leaders who seem to say that they won't employ those methods unless forced to by laws, regulations, and tax incentives. That argument didn't make sense to me. It also seems like many countries are already using laws, regulations, and tax incentives to encourage conservation and clean energy use. If those approaches are a good idea, there should be all kinds of incentives to change.

The crux of Mr. Friedman's argument in favor of these governmental changes is that it is critical that the United States do more in these areas than anyone else for the following reasons:

1. It will be a competitive disadvantage to lag in these areas.
2. Economic growth in the United States depends on creating a large clean energy and conservation industry.
3. Safety from the Muslim world depends on these activities, as well.
4. Other countries will do more in these areas if the U.S. goes first.
5. People in other countries will support more change if U.S. consumers are making these changes.

The major flaw in this thesis is that the United States government can make such a large change and sustain it for several decades. Since the 1960s, there has been little consensus in the United States on any changes other than ones that favor growth of individual incomes and wealth in the short term.

The current economic crisis will put a heavy burden on economic growth for many years to come. The pending retirement of the baby boom generation will be an even heavier weight to carry.

I suspect that there will be little appetite for government to lead such changes.

Ultimately, I suspect that a more likely path to success in making these changes would be for state, city, and county governments to boycott suppliers who don't use clean energy and employ good conservation practices. Action at those levels of government often works, doesn't take a long time, and is already being successful in areas like California.

I praise Mr. Friedman for wanting to encourage conservation and use of clean energy, but I fear that he needs to spend more time thinking about how to do that . . . and less time on arguing for national changes in U.S. laws, regulations, and tax incentives. With our political system, I think he is whistling in the dark.

What do you think?

Doable, Win-Win Plan, 09 Sep 2008

In Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America, Thomas Friedman presents an irresistible opportunity for Americans--one that can save the planet and increase our wealth.

The world is flat because of globalization--which is good, as ideas and practices can spread effectively. What is not so good is that our world population is exploding and countries like India and China are seeing an increase in wealth, which puts more strain on the world's resources and increases global warming.

Friedman begins the book with a discussion of how America has changed post 9/11. He uses the example of the US consulate built in 1882 in Istanbul. The consulate was built in the heart of the city: "it was an easy place for Turks to get a VISA, to peruse the library or to engage with an American diplomat."

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the building was closed and a nearly impenetrable consulate was built. This all but stopped visitors from visiting. Although the new building does protect against attacks, it isolates Americans and impacts on how we are viewed and how we see ourselves.

Friedman writes that he wrote the book because: "An American living in a defensive crouch cannot fully tap the vast rivers of idealism, innovation, volunteerism, and philanthropy that still flow through our nation. And it cannot play the vital role it has long played for the rest of the world--as a beacon of hope and the country that we can always be counted on to lead the world in response to whatever is the most important challenge of the day."

That challenge is global warming. He proposes we begin a massive project called "code green."

Friedman identifies three broad trends in our society:
1. The post 9/11 building of walls around us to protect Americans from foreigners.
2. Since the 1980's, politicians acting "dumb as we wanna be," meaning we will get to fixing the roads, global warming and other issues when we get around to it. This includes politicians like Bush "protecting us" from gas taxes and other unpleasantries to keep our standard of living, or the fact that we are in war and don't have to make any sacrifices (save the soldier's lives.)
3. Nation building at home. This is the one good trend Friedman sees and he writes about the plethora of innovative, imaginative souls who devote their energy to finding green solutions.

Friedman considers what is now called the green movement to be more like a green party. He cites several "green" books that include the words "easy" or "lazy" in the titles. The authors write books where: "everyone is a winner, nobody gets hurt and nobody has to do anything hard." I have read several of these books and agree--much of the advice is fluff. However, I do see the recent deluge of books and articles on sustainability as changing the consciousness and buying habits of the country. Many people who begin by making "painless changes" get serious about the environment and one or two of them may be the next inventor of the solar-run car. I also believe that when millions cut down on the use of plastic and other nonrenewable resources, that it does make an environmental difference.

The increase in population and wealth and buying power all tax our already limited supply of petroleum, coal and gas--all substances that cause global warming and pollute our planet. Even if you didn't "believe" in global warming, it is a fact that petroleum--now needed in unprecedented amounts--is rapidly becoming an increasingly difficult product to procure. If you think spending $5.00 a gallon for gas for your car is a hardship, that price will be considered nothing in a few years. Folks, we are running out of time and oil.

Friedman gets that Americans can use the diminishing supply in nonrenewable resources as a means for an economic boom, for bridging the widening gap between Americans and the rest of the world and for drawing us together as a nation. Americans are an innovative and smart bunch of people and we need to get working on devising clean alternatives to fossil fuels. This will create more jobs, strong economic times and raised spirits.

Friedman presents a doable, win-win plan to raise wealth and to save the planet. A must-read.

By the author of the award winning book, HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT: BEAUTIFY, DETOXIFY & ENEGIZE YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME & YOUR PLANET.

Financial Democracy, 08 Nov 2008
For Prof. R.J. Shiller, the root of the subprime mortgage crisis in the US is a myth, the belief that real estate prices must strongly trend upward for demographic reasons.
He proves that the price of real estate, to the contrary, is trending lower. What went up are the quality and the dimension of the average individual houses. But what about `land'? Didn't Mark Twain recommend strongly: `Go for land. They've stopped producing it.'? R.J. Shiller remarks cleverly that only 2,6 % of US land is used for urbanization.
Another factor of the bubble was psychological: the human herd instinct. There was a social contagion of boom thinking.
A third, more specific, factor was the deliberate governmental policy to promote home-ownership as much as possible. This should be good for the Party.

When the real estate bubble burst, it disrupted immediately the credit markets. Aggressive mortgage lenders never worried about repayment risks. They repackaged the mortgages, got top ratings from the rating agencies and sold their packages to third parties all over the world.
But even more importantly, the crisis damaged the `social fabric', the way of life of millions of families and also human relationships (through aggressive creditors). It created an atmosphere of distrust, of hoarding, with runs on banks; in one word, it gave rise to a psychological environment that could lead to a severe and long depression, which would hurt every citizen. Therefore, the subprime crisis must be solved.

Prof. R.J. Shiller makes a distinction between the short term and the long term solution.
In the short term, there should be a massive bail-out in order to prevent an escalation of the crisis and of the economic downturn.
In the long term, the US government should create a basic social contract and protect every citizen against major misfortune. It should impose financial democracy through standardized full disclosure documents so that everybody should get better information about all the risks involved. Without affecting individual privacy, indicators should be created about the real value of real estate. Those should lead to a more efficient pricing of houses and to a stabilization of the market. Prof. R.J. Shiller did not only recommend these policies, but created an indicator himself.

With an open and clear-sighted mind, Prof. Shiller wrote a small, but essential, book about a dramatic worldwide crisis, without losing the `human touch'. It is an essential read for all those interested in the future of mankind.


Thoughtful, straightforward diagnosis and prescription, 18 Sep 2008
Robert Shiller, the prescient author of the book Irrational Exuberance, offers an insightful examination of the causes of the subprime mortgage crisis, and suggests a list of potential measures for the future. He lays the blame for the subprime crisis on the same oblivious fiscal attitudes that led to the technology bubble of the 1990s and the real estate bubble of the 2000s. Both bubbles involved excessive lending and resulted in severe losses for capital providers. His prescription for dealing with the crisis involves a range of policy measures. In the short term, he calls for bailouts for low-income borrowers who got drawn into subprime scams that they did not understand. For the long term, he proposes a new framework for financial institutions, more transparent information, simpler contracts, improved risk-management markets, equity insurance and home loans linked to income, among other measures. Both his diagnosis and his prescription will be controversial, no doubt, but getAbstract thinks his book is a necessary text for anyone who wants to understand what's happened, and how to survive it and learn from it.

Short and radical, 30 Aug 2008
Robert Shiller has written some very interesting things over the years. In my opinion Irrational Exuberance is still one of the best books to read about stockmarkets, and in the New Financial Order he set out some new ideas for democratising finance so that it better serves the public. This short book (the previous reviewer is right to say it's more of a pamphlet) draws a bit on the ideas mapped out in the New Financial Order as a way out of the current mess.

To massively over-simplify, Shiller says we need a mix of short-term sticking plasters and longer-term reforms. In respect of the former camp he says we have to accept bailouts as a necessary evil, even though it goes against the moral hazard arguments. he also suggests setting up a revamped Homeowners Loan Corporation which would take on mortgages as collateral for loans to mortgage lenders in return for influencing the form future mortgages take (in order that they offer a better deal to homeowners).

Turning to the longer term Shiller sets out 6 key policies - comprehensive financial advice (based on fees rather than commssions), the establishment of a consumer finance watchdog, the creation of more default financial options (not just pensions, mortgage arrangements could also be included), improved financial disclosure, to improve accountability, the creation of better financial databases which would help provide consumers with better advice and more tailored products, and finally and most radically the creation of new units of economic measurement, based on what things actually cost.

There are big plus points about this book. First, Shiller is willing to think big. he's effectively arguing for more financial innovation, not less, but also that the process should be carried out in a way that meets the needs of the public. Secondly he warns against scapegoating the financial sector. In the epilogue he argues that we should be focusing on the systems that went wrong, rather than seeking to punish the industry as a whole. As tempting as it might be to try to stick the boot into the super-rich in the City, that isn't really going to take us very far. Shiller instead is setting out some challenging ideas for how we might stop this kind of crisis arising again.

an essential handbook for bubble spotters, 05 Aug 2008
Shiller's is a concise attempt to elaborate in just seven chapters the genesis of the housing bubble (a psychological carry-over from the dotcom bubble), explode its myths ("prices always go up"), explore its scale and the dangers of its deepening impact (it's bad), assert the need to maintain confidence in our economic and financial institutions by aggressive action (comparing the US and European responses to the Great Depression), and then explore longer-term, more fundamental reforms and innovations that will create a population much more attuned to economic risk.

Shiller says his inspiration was John Maynard Keynes 'The Economic Consequences of the Peace', which I take to mean that getting the subprime solution wrong could have devastating consequences.

At less than 200 pages of wide-margined type, lightly annotated and with no bibliography, there is something of the emergency pamphlet about this book. And Shiller is advocating a much speedier and more deep-rooted response to the crisis, which, as of a few weeks ago, he felt was still not being taken seriously enough.

There are many recommendations, but if the scale of the problem is as suggested, I'd argue that it's a book that everyone who lives in a house (and who is of reading age) should own; just don't buy ten and try to rent them out.

The Knackered Hack

yes but..., 13 Nov 2008
Readable, passionate, but... if true, the latest financial crash would have seen another swift extension of market power. But does govt control or ownership of the banks, talk of aggressive new regulation or the 'end of capitalism' sound like capitalism making hay? Are we really seeing a retreat from govt or state activity in the face of recession?

On the contrary, this latest shock is widely described as a disaster for capitalism. The doctrine fails its first test. The former chairman of the Federal reserve - Alan Greenspan - talks about this shock as though it has fundamentally undermined the theoretical constructs of capitalism by showing the weakness of self interest. When the priests are becoming apostates, how can the shock be said to further their former creed? The conclusion has to be that this book is an aggressively selective reading of the evidence. As such, it might apply historically to some cases and is an interesting description of the manner in which some people find profit in any event, but does not come close to holding up as a doctrine. Overall, it strains far too hard and becomes less convincing with every doctrinaire assertion of its own. Having read the blurb about a methodical approach to data, I then read the the author's suggestion of an alignment of capitalism and torture with disbelief. This is not evidence, it is polemic, and occasionally whacky polemic at that. Spirited, but flawed.

Totally mindblowing, 30 Oct 2008
This is my first ever review on Amazon. No book has ever moved me to want to take action before like The Shock Dcotrine. Ok, so writing an Amazon review isn't going to change the world but getting as many people as possible to read this book is a step in the right direction.

A friend who recommended the book to me said it was powerful, but I wasn't prepared for just how powerful. Page after page I felt real physical rage and disbelief at how these horrific and world changing events have been happening for decades (and continue to happen) and yet have remained so under the radar of most of us.

Describing the contents of the book has been done very eloquently in other reviews, so I won't repeat that here. But I will just say PLEASE, whatever your political colour, however sceptical you are, PLEASE read this book, it will change how you view the world.



Yuck, 03 Oct 2008
Even though it was valuable for me to learn what is really going on, I read this book with a mixture of revulsion and horror. I was certainly shocked to learn about the tripartite economic recipe - privatisation, deregulation, and cutbacks in social welfare spending - repeatedly used around the world by a so-called democracy via highly non-democratic means.

In the early years, the primary shock vehicle was dictatorial military force and accompanying fear of - and actual mass use of - arrest, torture, disappearance, or death. Over time, new organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank were employed instead, deliberately creating impossible debt burdens to force governments to accept privatisation, removal of trade barriers and tariffs, and widespread layoffs. In more recent years, these policies have been used on peoples already shocked by terrroism or natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis.

And more and more information along the lines revealed by this book continues to show up - only recently, for example, "New Scientist" (23 July 2008) carried an article stating that, for each year of a country's involvement with the IMF, the TB death rate increased by four per cent on average. This was not because countries with worsening TB attract more IMF attention since the TB rates had been falling, or at least steady, before receiving IMF "help".

Finally, for a more personal view of the same story, read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".


Complex, Compelling, Horrifying, an Important Book, 29 Sep 2008
"The Shock Doctrine" is a thoroughly good read in which Naomi Klein sets out to illustrate the spread of the economic doctrine of the late economist Milton Friedman and of the Chicago School of Economics; to illustrate the use of force (backed by U.S government in a number of cases) by right-wing governments and exploitation of natural disaster and conflict to push through unpopular economic reforms (based on Friedman's doctrine), and how such governments are putting big business first to line their own pockets and those of the corporate sector, leaving the public sector to deteriorate and their nation to grow poorer and poorer.

The book opens with an introduction of Milton Friedman's view of disaster as an opportunity for the practice of free-market economics; how he longed for the chance to test out his theories and how he finally got the chance. Klein discusses research into the effects of psychological shock and then moves onto how this research was then used and abused by the CIA for interrogation purposes. We are then cited a number of case studies in which right-wing governments have used repressive measures to pursue with their economic policies, and the concept of 'planned misery' is developed.

It is when Klein turns onto the subject of shock therapy in the U.S., of the homeland security industry and U.S. management of Iraq vis-a-vis shock therapy becomes slightly inconsistent, something she appears to seek a remedy for, in the case of the latter, with the concept of "pre-emptive shock". This inconsistency itself, however, isn't particularly important because the message is clear enough: with all the back-scratching and dirty dealing going on under Bush, the corporate world has never had it so good.

The penultimate chapter looks at how conflict has benefited the Israeli economy and stock markets, and the final chapter is Klein's hope-inspiring conclusion is that capitalism is finally coming to its end as left-wing governments turn their backs on the U.S and on free-market economics ideas and practices, etc.

"The Shock Doctrine" is a complex book, but Klein's style of writing is ever-refreshing and there's not a dull word in the text, one of the great things about her work. She brilliantly portrays why right-wing big government and big business can be so dangerous. It's a relief to know both have a thorn in its side like Naomi Klein. This is an important book, one not to be missed. I'd definitely recommend it.

Scandal: Sometimes people profit when bad things happen. Film at eleven!, 21 Sep 2008
First, disclosure: I enjoyed No Logo a great deal, it informed a lot of the way I think about corporations and changed the way I bought clothes. I read the Guardian when I get a chance, and am addicted to the Daily Show. So please don't think that my review is based on having a radically different philosophy to Ms Klein.

I didn't like this book. The main thrust of the book is that there are theorists who believe that you can only change things when a big shock to the system happens; an earthquake, 9/11, Katrina, etc. In the aftermath the populace are too shocked and confused to notice free marketers running in to privatize public assets like security or schools. Now in individual cases, I agree this is something to keep an eye on, particularly with companys like Blackwater. But where the author loses me is in tying this together with a history of torture methods of the CIA around electroshock. I didn't really see the relevance of the comparison and it's a thread that weaves its way through the book. There's also a hint of the paranoia seen in conspiracy theorists, throughout, and here is my fundamental problem with that: most people are not evil. They go about their business, try to be good people, and that's that. If a corporation sees an opportunity to make money it's hardly surprising they will do, it doesn't always need to be interepreted as part of an agenda. Sometimes it's just business.

Personally I found the entire topic much less relevant to me than No Logo; what am I supposed to do about the issues explored here other than gripe about them to other lefties to show off how well read I am? At 550 pages this could also have done with being a lot more concise. Overall I'm disappointed that I didn't like this more.

Must read for anyone interested in poverty reduction, 30 Aug 2008
In my work over the last few years, struggling with the issues of development and poverty reduction, and I read a lot of books on the issues. Recently, I read one of the best books in the form of Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion.
Just as Mr. Collier says at the end of his book, discussions on poverty and development have over the last few years been dominated by two extremes: On the one extreme Mr. Jeffrey Sachs call for more aid to "end poverty", and on the other side, William Easterly's negativity that nothing really works (in the books The End of Poverty and The White Man's Burden, respectively).
Mr. Collier strikes a marvelous and necessary balance between these two. On one side, he says about Mr. Sachs:
"At present the clarion call for the left is Jeffrey Sach's book the end of poverty. Much as I agree with Sachs' passionate call to action, I think that he has overplayed the importance of aid. Aid alone will not solve the problems of the bottom billion - we need to use a wider range of policies."
Mr. Sachs is an advocate of more money will solve the problems, but as Mr. Collier puts well in the book, many of the problems related to poverty are structural, from lack of investement, infrastructure, education, conflic