The Elusive Quest for Growth
by William Russell Easterly · first published 2002
83% recommend17% critical
Why HN recommends it
Explains why development efforts in poor countries so often failed, using case histories of economists' aid and policy attempts. Suits readers new to development economics.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Why economists' attempts to help poorer countries improve their economic well-being have failed. Since the end of World War II, economists have tried to figure out how poor countries in the tropics could attain standards of living approaching those of countries in Europe and North America. Attempted remedies have included providing foreign aid, investing in machines, fostering education, controlling population growth, and making aid loans as well as forgiving those loans on condition of reforms. None of these solutions has delivered as promised. The problem is not the failure of economics, Wi
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…the "charter cities" idea really is that different than MVP and hence it's not clear how it will overcome the obstacles MVP faced. Edit: William Easterly is quoted here. He has an awesome book, "The Elusive Quest for Growth", that discusses a lot of non-intuitive reasons why development efforts have historically failed. I would highly recommend it.
on “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ending Poverty” ↗…have structural reasons for why they are underdeveloped. This is a very complicated topic, and one for which there is no shortage of academic interest. I suggest starting from William Easterly's "The Elusive Quest for Growth". I quote here from the book review MIT Press: > What is necessary for growth is that government incentives induce investment in collective goods like education, health, and the rule of law
on “New rule requires most green-card applicants to apply from outside U.S.” ↗The Elusive Quest for Growth by W. Easterly -- read it when I was in college hoping to study development (poverty, growth) economics; changed the way I look at poverty, economics and politics in general. Likewise I helped me ditch…
on “Ask HN: What books have most influenced the way you see the world?” ↗That was 40 years ago. I read about this movement from William Easterly's Elusive Quest for Growth when I was young, still in college. It changed almost everything I thought I learned about poverty and development economics.
on “The village that changed China forever” ↗…since elementary school, it's tiresome. > Also, I don't think Brazil is a special example at all. Yeah, like most Brazilians I used to think that Brazil was exceptional. The eye-opener was the book "The Elusive Quest for Growth", which describes efforts to bring many countries out of poverty. Most poor countries make similar mistakes, we're not an exception at all.
on “The Brazilianization of the World” ↗…you start view something more broad then just looking into education. A mooc like this: http://www.mruniversity.com/courses/development-economics-0 The list of books are very long. Something like "The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics" might be a starter. Once you get into the topic you can go in different direction. I am confident that I will also conclude that education by…
on “U.S. military is expanding special forces operations in Africa” ↗> This is a very complicated topic, and one for which there is no shortage of academic interest. I suggest starting from William Easterly's "The Elusive Quest for Growth What's Easterly's qualifications? Has he ever successfully improved the economy of a developing country? I'd rather learn what LKY or Park Chung Hee or heck even Deng Xiaoping or Pinochet had to say.
on “New rule requires most green-card applicants to apply from outside U.S.” ↗