The bestselling author of The Bottom Billion returns to examine the fate of the poorest regions of the world, some of which exist in the richest nations Since the 1970s, the Western consensus in economic policy has been governed by the assumption that any poor area--a city, a state or even an entire country--will find a way to progress through market forces. If local economies fail to revive, and market shifts have made a location unsuited to business needs, the workforce can and should relocate to more prosperous locales. Either way, no outside intervention is necessary: one way or another, the problem will work itself out.
Except it doesn't. Using examples of the "left behind" regions, renowned development economist Paul Collier shows that centralized western economies have been the most ineffective to alleviate poverty--even if nationally the country seems to be growing. South Yorkshire, once a hub of the steel industry, is now the poorest region in England. From the United States to Japan, Zambia to Colombia, regions and nations experiencing economic decline find themselves with little recourse, ignored by the powers that could come to their aid.
In
Left Behind, Collier examines how this one-size-fits-all, hands-off approach to economic policy has devastated areas and nations all over the world and made society vastly more unequal. With keen insight, he draws lessons from such disparate fields as behavioral psychology, evolutionary biology, and moral philosophy to explain how we can adapt to the needs of individual economies in order to build a brighter and fairer global future.
Author: Paul Collier
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 08/06/2024
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781541703094
About the Author
Sir Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford. From 1998-2003 he took a five-year Public Service leave during which he was Director of the Research Development Department of the World Bank. He is currently a Professeur invité at Sciences Po and a Director of the International Growth Centre at the London School of Economics. He has written for the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Collier has authored numerous books, including The Bottom Billion (Oxford University Press, 2007) which in 2008 won the Lionel Gelber, Arthur Ross and Corine prizes and in May 2009 was the joint winner of the Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book prize.
