White Man's Burden : Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good

from kathysmallwood

I am a big William Easterly fan and was very much impacted by The White Man's Burden. This book provides an understandable explanation as to why many foreign aid efforts fail while others succeed. His concepts provide insight for anyone interested in effective international humanitarian aid. Rega...

from jcvogan1

Argues that the aid world needs more 'Searchers' rather than 'Plannners.' There are a couple of chapters on colonialism and military intervention where he wanders beyond his expertise but overall a good book. A particularly passionate attack on AIDS treatment programs for not being the most cost-...

from fiadhiglas

This book started out so strong that I was already thinking ahead to giving it 5 stars, and then he started talking about how free markets solve everything, and it went downhill from there. A lot of economists don't seem to understand human nature or human behavior at all. Which makes sense since...

from kaitanya64

Easterly explains the problems of international aid in terms of economics. He argues that "planners," experts who tend to make large, unmeasurable goals and all-encompassing programs without accountability for results not only does not lead to "development" of countries receiving aid, but often s...