William Easterly

A legendary economist argues that the standard top-down, technocratic approaches to global poverty not only don''t work but also trample the individual rights of the people they''re meant to help. And those rights, it turns out, are crucial to fostering lasting development.Over the last century, global poverty has largely been viewed as a technical problem that merely requires the right "expert" solutions. Yet all too often, experts recommend solutions that fix immediate problems without addressing the systemic political factors that created them in the first place. Further, they produce an accidental collusion with "benevolent autocrats," leaving dictators with yet more power to violate the rights of the poor.In The Tyranny of Experts, economist William Easterly, bestselling author of The White Man''s Burden, traces the history of the fight against global poverty, showing not only how these tactics have trampled the individual freedom of the world''s poor, but how in doing so have suppressed a vital debate about an alternative approach to solving poverty: freedom. Presenting a wealth of cutting-edge economic research, Easterly argues that only a new model of developmentone predicated on respect for the individual rights of people in developing countries, that understands that unchecked state power is the problem and not the solution will be capable of ending global poverty once and for all.

Desde el final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, los economistas se han esforzado por averiguar por qué los países pobres no consiguen alcanzar los niveles de renta de los países industrializados del Norte, a la vez que han aplicado toda clase de remedios a la situacion, con resultados descorazonadores. Segun el autor, estos fracasos no lo son del conocimiento economico sino de no emplear en la practica los principios de la economia. En un estilo accesible, y a menudo irreverente, este libro presenta la teoria moderna del crecimiento economico desde la optica de un economista comprometido con su aplicacion practica.

A legendary economist argues that the standard top-down, technocratic approaches to global poverty not only don''t work but also trample the individual rights of the people they''re meant to help. And those rights, it turns out, are crucial to fostering lasting development.Over the last century, global poverty has largely been viewed as a technical problem that merely requires the right "expert" solutions. Yet all too often, experts recommend solutions that fix immediate problems without addressing the systemic political factors that created them in the first place. Further, they produce an accidental collusion with "benevolent autocrats," leaving dictators with yet more power to violate the rights of the poor.In The Tyranny of Experts, economist William Easterly, bestselling author of The White Man''s Burden, traces the history of the fight against global poverty, showing not only how these tactics have trampled the individual freedom of the world''s poor, but how in doing so have suppressed a vital debate about an alternative approach to solving poverty: freedom. Presenting a wealth of cutting-edge economic research, Easterly argues that only a new model of developmentone predicated on respect for the individual rights of people in developing countries, that understands that unchecked state power is the problem and not the solution will be capable of ending global poverty once and for all.

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

We are all aware of the extreme hunger and poverty that afflict the world''s poor. We hear the facts, see the images on television, buy the T-shirt and are moved as individuals and governments to dig deep into our pockets. Yet what happens to all this aid? Why after 50 years and $2.3 trillion are there still children dying for lack of twelve cents medicine? Why are there so many people still living on less than $1 a day without clean water, food, sanitation, shelter, education or medicine? InThe White Man''s Burden William Easterly, acclaimed author and former economist at the World Bank, addresses these twin tragedies head on. While recognising the energy and compassion behind the campaign to make poverty history he argues urgently and powerfully that grand plans and good intentions are a part of the problem not the solution. Giving aid is not enough, we must ensure that it reaches the people who need it most and the only way to make this happens is through accountability and by learning from past experiences. Without claiming to have all the answers, William Easterly chastises the complacent and patronising attitude of the West that attempts to impose solutions from above.In this book, which is by turns angry, moving, irreverent but always rigorous, he calls on each and everyone of us to take responsibility, whether donors, aid workers or ordinary citizens, so that more aid reaches the people it is supposed to help, the mother who cannot feed her children, the little girl who has to collect firewood rather than go to school, the father who cannot work because he has been crippled by war. No one who attacks the humanitarian aid establishment is going to win any popularity contests, but, neither, it seems, is that establishment winning any contests with the people it is supposed to be helping. Easterly, an NYU economics professor and a former research economist at the World Bank, brazenly contends that the West has failed, and continues to fail, to enact its ill-formed, utopian aid plans because, like the colonialists of old, it assumes it knows what is best for everyone. Existing aid strategies, Easterly argues, provide neither accountability nor feedback. Without accountability for failures, he says, broken economic systems are never fixed. And without feedback from the poor who need the aid, no one in charge really understands exactly what trouble spots need fixing. True victories against povert

William Easterly, uno de los economistas especializados en desarrollo más importantes del mundo, fue despedido del Banco Mundial por criticar la incompetencia flagrante de las organizaciones occidentales a la hora de mitigar la pobreza global.Este libro es su respuesta.La carga del hombre blanco es una critica feroz a los arrogantes esfuerzos y a las ineficaces politicas economicas de Occidente por mejorar el destino de los supuestos paises en desarrollo.En ocasiones irreverente, en otras airado, pero siempre clarividente y riguroso, Easterly plantea que Occidente debe afrontar su propia historia de ineptitud y sacar sus propias conclusiones, especialmente cuando la cuestion de nuestra capacidad de trasladar las instituciones occidentales al Tercer Mundo es uno de los debates mas acuciantes a los que nos enfrentamos.Un libro de denuncia que ofrece propuestas realistas para reducir la desigualdad en el mundo.Reseña: La carga del hombre blanco es un valiente y documentado texto que denuncia el fracaso de la ayuda al desarrollo. Bernabe Sarabia, El Cultural

William Easterly, uno de los economistas especializados en desarrollo más importantes del mundo, fue despedido del Banco Mundial por criticar la incompetencia flagrante de las organizaciones occidentales a la hora de mitigar la pobreza global.Este libro es su respuesta. La carga del hombre blanco es una critica feroz a los arrogantes esfuerzos y a las ineficaces politicas economicas de Occidente por mejorar el destino de los supuestos paises en desarrollo. En ocasiones irreverente, en otras airado, pero siempre clarividente y riguroso, Easterly plantea que Occidente debe afrontar su propia historia de ineptitud y sacar sus propias conclusiones, especialmente cuando la cuestion de nuestra capacidad de trasladar las instituciones occidentales al Tercer Mundo es uno de los debates mas acuciantes a los que nos enfrentamos. Un libro de denuncia que ofrece propuestas realistas para reducir la desigualdad en el mundo.Reseña:La carga del hombre blanco es un valiente y documentado texto que denuncia el fracaso de la ayuda al desarrollo.Bernabe Sarabia, El Cultural