The white man's burden
Subtitle: why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good
By: William Easterly.
Publisher: Penguin Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 436
Subjects: Economic assistance -- Developing countries; Poverty -- Prevention
Description: An 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, with constructive suggestions on how to move forward. Economist Easterly discusses the twin tragedies of global poverty: the first, that so many are seemingly fated to live miserable lives and die early deaths; the second, that after fifty years and more than $2.3 trillion in aid, we have shockingly little to show for it. We preach a gospel of freedom and individual accountability, yet we intrude in the inner workings of other countries through bloated aid bureaucracies--and most of the places in which we've meddled are in fact no better off or are even worse off than they were before. Could it be that we don't know as much as we think we do? -- From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.