First World, Third World - Softcover

Ryrie, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0333657314 ISBN 13: 9780333657317

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 1995

Synopsis

Over a billion people still live in abject poverty. International aid, and its organs such as the World Bank, can claim only limited success. Indeed, in some parts of the world, especially Africa, they must acknowledge failure. William Ryrie analyses the record of international aid with ruthless honesty, while sympathising with its objectives. Aid has often had perverse and harmful effects. Probably its most basic failure has been to undermine the working of the market economy, which offers the best hope of rapid growth and declining poverty. Ryrie argues that a new intellectual basis for aid must urgently be found and the development task redefined, concluding this stimulating book with some novel and provocative proposals.

About this title

From the Back Cover

After half a century of international aid more than a billion people still live in abject poverty. The world development effort can claim only limited success, and in some parts of the world, especially Africa, failure must be recognized. One of the harmful effects of well-intentioned aid has been to undermine the market economy. William Ryrie's book proposes a new approach to the developmental task which would reconcile it with the market philosophy of the 1990's.

About the Author

SIR WILLIAM RYRIE'S varied career, including much first-hand experience of the Third World, qualifies him particularly well to write about aid and development. The first fifteen years of his life were spent in India. He worked in the Colonial Office and then for twenty years at the British Treasury, including four years on the Boards of the World Bank and the IMF. For two years he managed the British aid programme, as Permanent Secretary of the Overseas Development Administration. Then from 1984 to 1993 he was Head of the International Finance Corporation, a part of the World Bank Group which exists to promote economic development through the fold, establishing it as an important factor on the world development scene. Ryrie is now a part-time investment banker mainly active in emerging markets around the world. He is Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0333657314
• ISBN 13: 9780333657317
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 255