The Bottom Billion Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Audible Audio Edition) Paul Collier Gideon Emery Audible Studios Books
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In the universally acclaimed and award-winning The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier reveals that 50 failed states - home to the poorest one billion people on earth - pose the central challenge of the developing world in the 21st century. The book shines much-needed light on this group of small nations, largely unnoticed by the industrialized West, that are dropping further and further behind the majority of the world's people, often falling into an absolute decline in living standards.
A struggle rages within each of these nations between reformers and corrupt leaders - and the corrupt are winning. Collier analyzes the causes of failure, pointing to a set of traps that ensnare these countries, including civil war, a dependence on the extraction and export of natural resources, and bad governance. Standard solutions do not work, he writes; aid is often ineffective, and globalization can actually make matters worse, driving development to more stable nations.
What the bottom billion need, Collier argues, is a bold new plan supported by the Group of Eight industrialized nations. If failed states are ever to be helped, the G8 will have to adopt preferential trade policies, new laws against corruption, new international charters, and even conduct carefully calibrated military interventions. Collier has spent a lifetime working to end global poverty. In The Bottom Billion, he offers real hope for solving one of the great humanitarian crises facing the world today.
The Bottom Billion Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Audible Audio Edition) Paul Collier Gideon Emery Audible Studios Books
For anyone who has ever visited a "failed state", an awful lot of Paul Collier's observations will resonate. What he accomplishes in this short and brilliant book is to put the phenomenon into context in an understandable way. While I think his proposed remedies may fall short, I feel I have gained a new clarity about the problem of those who are left behind in the new global economy, the ones who seem unable to break out of stagnation or precipitous decline (i.e. the bottom billion).Collier sees a series of serious obstacles (or "traps") that the bottom billion face. First, there is conflict: most of these countries are threatened with violence either from without or within. War is obviously detrimental to economic development, in particular as the bottom billion tend to get caught in the negative feedback loop of funding the military only to become victims of coups. Second, the possession of raw materials - the "natural resource trap" - does not help: not only they can they divert attention from necessary reforms, but they raise the value of local currencies, thereby choking off diversification of nascent sectors in the economy, e.g. manufacturing. Third, the bottom billion tend to be landlocked and hence dependent on neighbors, with whom they must intimately cooperate and coordinate. Fourth, they tend to suffer from chronic bad governance and poor policy choices. While brave reformers may emerge, Collier notes, they need skilled administrators and time to implement policies, both of which are rare to come by or sustain; indeed they often end up in exile or prison.
Unfortunately, Collier observes, the tools for climbing out of this configuration of traps - many countries suffer from more than one, most of them in Africa - are difficult to apply. Aid can help to promote growth, but cannot suffice without private sector involvement; it is also subject to both diminishing returns and the habit of helping countries that are already doing pretty well. Furthermore, efforts to correct trade policies, in particular by tariff incentives against Asia that would nurture their manufacturing bases, are very difficult to implement, not to forget agree upon. This leaves military intervention for purposes of promoting stability and the formulation of "charters", new laws, and international regimes to promote development - also extremely problematic in any practical sense.
Collier comes up with a combination of these remedies that I find unrealistically hopeful: charters (e.g. investment protocols for private investors), selective foreign military interventions in the service of regional stability, trade protection from the Asian manufacturing juggernaut, and specific types of aid (helping the worst off, taking more risks for innovative policies, the provision of able administrators in the crucial first years, and the like). Moreover, Collier suggests that a coalition of NGOs, governments, businesses, and governments must act in concert, with common goals and methods.
It is very difficult for me to see how all of these forces could align in any sustained manner, particularly in the current political climate that seems to fall back on populist nationalism, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to try. A review this short cannot do justice to the breadth of Collier's vision, of course. Nonetheless, as he makes clear, many of these policies require massively complex coordination, not just globally but also regionally, according to which nation-states would agree on goals and pursue them, such as the development of logistical infrastructure in the furtherance of international trade. Would Nigeria by willing to invest in ports so that Niger could ferry its manufactured products to China?
Recommended with enthusiasm. This book is essential to understanding international economics that takes politics into consideration.
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The Bottom Billion Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Audible Audio Edition) Paul Collier Gideon Emery Audible Studios Books Reviews
Already ten years old this book is still worth a read since the details are most likely still relevant to the bottom billion and perhaps others besides. In particular I note the relevant similarities to my own State of Alaska which is primarily a resource extracting state and has some of the characteristics of failing countries that Dr. Collier describes - though certainly Alaska has succeeded in saving funds for the rainy day we are in now due to the drop in oil prices. This book is loaded with detailed economic research. One thing I did notice missing though was information on global warming and its impact on those bottom billion - but this book was published in 2007 and I think much of the data on warming and its devastation of economies in those areas of Africa and the Middle East which elsewhere I read leads to migration and civil war over resources certainly should be part of this book if it is updated any time soon. On the whole the book is of course very negative in outlook though the last bit contains suggestions in each area discussed in the book regarding what we can do to help though of course in explaining each of these areas of concern Paul Collier and his assistants have done a pretty thorough job of explaining how difficult all of those ideas would be to put into place. Still, very informative and interesting.
I had to buy this book for class. I think that it is wonderfully written and definitely gives you insight into how undeveloped navigates and increasingly global and competitive economy. Often times the news makes is seen very black and white. If a nation would just do this it would succeed if " "if a nation would raise wages or invest in tech it would do better." The truth of the matter is, it really isn't that simple and there are a lot of factors that cause those in the "bottom billion" to struggle. This book really does highlight those issues in a way that is easy to understand, but also gets you thinking. I would recommend this book if you have any interest in international business, economics, politics or studies. It gives really good insight that may otherwise be glossed over in a class or on TV.
For anyone who has ever visited a "failed state", an awful lot of Paul Collier's observations will resonate. What he accomplishes in this short and brilliant book is to put the phenomenon into context in an understandable way. While I think his proposed remedies may fall short, I feel I have gained a new clarity about the problem of those who are left behind in the new global economy, the ones who seem unable to break out of stagnation or precipitous decline (i.e. the bottom billion).
Collier sees a series of serious obstacles (or "traps") that the bottom billion face. First, there is conflict most of these countries are threatened with violence either from without or within. War is obviously detrimental to economic development, in particular as the bottom billion tend to get caught in the negative feedback loop of funding the military only to become victims of coups. Second, the possession of raw materials - the "natural resource trap" - does not help not only they can they divert attention from necessary reforms, but they raise the value of local currencies, thereby choking off diversification of nascent sectors in the economy, e.g. manufacturing. Third, the bottom billion tend to be landlocked and hence dependent on neighbors, with whom they must intimately cooperate and coordinate. Fourth, they tend to suffer from chronic bad governance and poor policy choices. While brave reformers may emerge, Collier notes, they need skilled administrators and time to implement policies, both of which are rare to come by or sustain; indeed they often end up in exile or prison.
Unfortunately, Collier observes, the tools for climbing out of this configuration of traps - many countries suffer from more than one, most of them in Africa - are difficult to apply. Aid can help to promote growth, but cannot suffice without private sector involvement; it is also subject to both diminishing returns and the habit of helping countries that are already doing pretty well. Furthermore, efforts to correct trade policies, in particular by tariff incentives against Asia that would nurture their manufacturing bases, are very difficult to implement, not to forget agree upon. This leaves military intervention for purposes of promoting stability and the formulation of "charters", new laws, and international regimes to promote development - also extremely problematic in any practical sense.
Collier comes up with a combination of these remedies that I find unrealistically hopeful charters (e.g. investment protocols for private investors), selective foreign military interventions in the service of regional stability, trade protection from the Asian manufacturing juggernaut, and specific types of aid (helping the worst off, taking more risks for innovative policies, the provision of able administrators in the crucial first years, and the like). Moreover, Collier suggests that a coalition of NGOs, governments, businesses, and governments must act in concert, with common goals and methods.
It is very difficult for me to see how all of these forces could align in any sustained manner, particularly in the current political climate that seems to fall back on populist nationalism, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to try. A review this short cannot do justice to the breadth of Collier's vision, of course. Nonetheless, as he makes clear, many of these policies require massively complex coordination, not just globally but also regionally, according to which nation-states would agree on goals and pursue them, such as the development of logistical infrastructure in the furtherance of international trade. Would Nigeria by willing to invest in ports so that Niger could ferry its manufactured products to China?
Recommended with enthusiasm. This book is essential to understanding international economics that takes politics into consideration.
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