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The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much
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The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good Paperback - 2007

by William Easterly

A professor of economics pens an informed and excoriating attack on the tragic waste, futility, and hubris of the West's efforts to improve the lot of the so-called developing world, and provides constructive suggestions on how to move forward.


Summary

From one of the world’s best-known development economists—an excoriating attack on the tragic hubris of the West’s efforts to improve the lot of the so-called developing world

In his previous book, The Elusive Quest for Growth, William Easterly criticized the utter ineffectiveness of Western organizations to mitigate global poverty, and he was promptly fired by his then-employer, the World Bank. The White Man’s Burden is his widely anticipated counterpunch—a brilliant and blistering indictment of the West’s economic policies for the world’s poor. Sometimes angry, sometimes irreverent, but always clear-eyed and rigorous, Easterly argues that we in the West need to face our own history of ineptitude and draw the proper conclusions, especially at a time when the question of our ability to transplant Western institutions has become one of the most pressing issues we face.

From the publisher

From one of the world's best-known development economists--an excoriating attack on the tragic hubris of the West's efforts to improve the lot of the so-called developing world. "Brilliant at diagnosing the failings of Western intervention in the Third World." --BusinessWeek In his previous book, The Elusive Quest for Growth, William Easterly criticized the utter ineffectiveness of Western organizations to mitigate global poverty, and he was promptly fired by his then-employer, the World Bank. The White Man's Burden is his widely anticipated counterpunch--a brilliant and blistering indictment of the West's economic policies for the world's poor. Sometimes angry, sometimes irreverent, but always clear-eyed and rigorous, Easterly argues that we in the West need to face our own history of ineptitude and draw the proper conclusions, especially at a time when the question of our ability to transplant Western institutions has become one of the most pressing issues we face.

First line

UNITED KINGDOM CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is eloquent about one of the two tragedies of the world's poor.

Details

  • Title The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good
  • Author William Easterly
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 448
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Books, New York
  • Date February 27, 2007
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780143038825 / 0143038826
  • Weight 0.91 lbs (0.41 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.4 x 5.56 x 0.98 in (21.34 x 14.12 x 2.49 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Developing World
    • Interdisciplinary Studies: Development Studies
  • Library of Congress subjects Economic assistance - Developing countries, Poverty - Prevention
  • Dewey Decimal Code 338.911

Media reviews

Brilliant at diagnosing the failings of Western intervention in the Third World. (BusinessWeek)

Citations

  • Books & Culture, 09/01/2014, Page 32
  • Christianity Today, 04/01/2011, Page 64
  • New York Times, 04/01/2007, Page 24

About the author

William Easterly is a professor of economics at New York University and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. He was a senior research economist at the World Bank for more than sixteen years. In addition to his academic work, he has written widely in recent years for The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, and Foreign Policy, among others. He is the author of the acclaimed book The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics. He has worked in many areas of the developing world, most extensively in Africa, Latin America, and Russia.
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