The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor - Softcover

Easterly, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465089739 ISBN 13: 9780465089734

Publisher: Basic Books, 2015

Synopsis

"Bracingly iconoclastic." --New York Times Book Review
In The Tyranny of Experts, renowned economist William Easterly examines our failing efforts to fight global poverty, and argues that the "expert approved" top-down approach to development has not only made little lasting progress, but has proven a convenient rationale for decades of human rights violations perpetrated by colonialists, postcolonial dictators, and US and UK foreign policymakers seeking autocratic allies. Demonstrating how our traditional antipoverty tactics have both trampled the freedom of the world's poor and suppressed a vital debate about alternative approaches to solving poverty, Easterly presents a devastating critique of the blighted record of authoritarian development. In this masterful work, Easterly reveals the fundamental errors inherent in our traditional approach and offers new principles for Western agencies and developing countries alike: principles that, because they are predicated on respect for the rights of poor people, have the power to end global poverty once and for all.

About this title

About the Author:

William Easterly is a professor of economics at New York University. He was a senior research economist at the World Bank for sixteen years. He is the author of The White Man's Burden and The Elusive Quest for Growth, and was listed as a Highly Cited Researcher of 2014 by Thomson Reuters. Easterly lives in New York City.

Review:

"A provocative book that will rile the development world.... A timely blast against the complacency of those who think progress and prosperity can be detached from politics."―Guardian (UK)

"Easterly's message is simple: Before you offer a helping hand, look hard at the core beliefs that brought you good fortune."―Washington Post

"There is something indomitable about William Easterly, and he has struck the development establishment where it is weakest: its appalling human rights record."―Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Easterly is one of the most consistently interesting and provocative thinkers on development."―Bloomberg View

"Thought provoking."―Economist

"This powerful polemic against top-down aid projects convinces."―Times of London (UK)

"A passionate, if fitful, argument against the conventional approach to economic development."―Washington Post

"Easterly has written a book that grabs a reader's attention from the first sentence.... Highly recommended."―Choice

"Fascinating."―Lancet

"The Tyranny of Experts is intellectual comfort food for people ... who are skeptical of the idea that the only things standing between us and a world free of poverty are insufficient funding and political will."―Cato Institute's Regulation

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0465089739
• ISBN 13: 9780465089734
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416