Wednesday, February 13, 2008

From Poverty To Prosperity

Russell Roberts INTERVIEWS WILLIAM EASTERLY who is the author of two interesting books on economic development: The White Man's Burden and The Elusive Quest for Growth. The interview is about 1 hour long. Much of the interview discusses the ways in which the western economies have not helped developing economies along the path to prosperity, and a good deal of this story reflects poorly on neoclassical economics. I think one very interesting suggestion Easterly makes about doing better in our efforts to help poor economies is that the conceptual framework needs to be changed from the mindset of planner to the mindset of the searcher.

I also have to mention something Roberts said: "The romance of utopia is timeless and enduring." This seems to be true. Too bad.

There is an interesting approach to offering aid to poor countries that was mentioned in the interview. Check out Global Giving.

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