Rating: 
Summary: Impeccably researched, though dry and repetitive
Review: Easterly is an economist who wishes to explain why, despite some massive effort, do some economies grow, and some don't. He delves into what people thought were the magical panacea's to growth, first machine investment, then education, then infrastructure, then aid, then debt relief, and so on. He then refutes each and every one of the suggested solutions.Easterly worked at the World Bank, so he knows what he's talking about. Even though not biting or cynical, he doesn't sugar coat anything. His first few chapters are dry and repetitive in the way that he explains how investing alone will not allow poorer countries to catch up. The following chapters do tend to flow better, though the repetitiveness still remains. It felt like he was switching back and forth, writing to a general audience on some chapters, writing like a educational thesis on a few chapters. Sometimes he'd make a convincing argument to something, but the actual point won't come until much later. Easterly, takes all the myths that most economists believed, and squashes them. Even though he uses anecdotal evidence, he backs up all his points with solid statistics, giving much credibility. It is clearly evident that Easterly has taken fifty years of attempted economic growth incentives, and explained what went wrong in a concise manner. To me, there were some glaring omissions. He never explains why a few countries' economies actually did catch up. He also doesn't bring cultural aspects into the realm. He doesn't refute or accept work ethic differences. Is a country's historical and cultural identity and work ethic influential to it's growth? That is a question that I would have loved to find out. To those who take interest in these types of economic quandaries, this book is right up your alley. Not altogether readable, it is very informative and well researched.
Rating: 
Summary: definitely, excellent!
Review: Easterly provides a rough and ironic perspective of how economists have failed to come with the answer on how to achieve economic growth on undeveloped countries. Not only he uses an acid sense of humor to describe one failure after another, but he also points out that economists' main disease is the "didn't work? let's try again!" syndrome.
Anyone who seeks for realist and honest opinions, must read this excellent piece of work. Even if you are not an economist, you'll enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: There are no easy answers to third world growth
Review: For 5/6ths of the people of Earth, life is a daily struggle for basic needs: food, shelter, medicine. Infant mortality rates are high, women are oppressed, and individuals have limited opportunities to improve their lot. William Easterly is a Senior Advisor in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. In his first book, he asks why trillion dollars of foreign aid to the countries of the "third world" since WWII have caused essentially no improvement in the quality of life for the people in these countries. I found the writing lucid and the many real stories of poverty and corruption both emotionally powerful and insightful. Emphasizing a key mantra of economics -- people respond to incentives -- he details the long list of foreign aid tactics that have failed: capital investment (machines, factories, roads), education, birth control, loans, and loan forgiveness. Not that any of the tactics are bad, but rather they are ineffectual in a country lacking key social, political, and economic infrastructure. Easterly then describes in detail the factors at play in driving growth: increasing returns (Leaks, Matches, Traps), creative destruction through technology, luck, governments kill growth, government corruption, and class and race conflicts. Easterly shows that achieving economic growth is very difficult, but he does a great job of identifying the key systemic issues that poor countries must address. Perhaps surprisingly, Easterly's model applies equally well to the economic disparities that exist within countries, even "rich" countries like the United States. The increasing returns model says that highly-skilled people will prefer to live and work with one another ("Matches"), as each of them will be more productive for being around other highly-skilled individuals. So this explains, for example, why areas like Silicon Valley, having once achieved critical mass, continue to grow. And why low-income inner-city and rural areas remain depressed ("Traps").
Rating:
Summary: The Essence of Friedman
Review: For a long time i want this book but i don't have enough money to buy it.Would you like to help my problem to give me just one this book.
For your attention i say thanks
Rating:
Summary: Growth proves elusive
Review: Great book! Easterly combines mastery of a lot of literature with a very available style to explain why so many countries remain poor after so much money has been spent on foreign assistance. A hard part of the lesson from this book is that politically motivated aid to countries with poor policies and corrupt leadership is not likely to help much, but that the incentive system within the donor nations and agencies has made such programs all too common. Easterly makes the great complexity of work in developing nations explicit, and almost intuitive. He effectively challenges several panaceas for poverty. It should be noted that growth is not necessarily the most important objective for development assistance, and the gains in life expectancy, nutrition and education have often been better than those in GDP per capita.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: I am disappointed that Amazon does not have an extra star for a truely inspiring books, since I would have chosen it. It is rare that economists can write as well as Easterly does, and portray that economists souls are not dark, but that we, like most others in the world, wish to help the plight of the poor. However, economists have been on the recieving end of a lot of criticisms because of their (unfair) association with greed. Those who finish Easterly's book, or even just the Prologue, will see a different and far more truthful type of economist: one who dedicates his life, through the study of economics, to the poor. Easterly also has written this book humbly. The first half of this book looks back on what the World Bank and IMF (he worked for the former) have done wrong. His disecting of the different potential panaceas forwarded by those institutions is unrivaled anywhere. His second half of the book contains his recommendations for these institutions. While it is a scathing report on the World Bank and IMF, he believes that these organziations have use, but need to mend their ways. I found only one problem with the book: it wasn't longer. Mr. Easterly is a true economist, and I recommend this book to all, no matter what profession, because everyone cares for the plight of the poor.
Rating:
Summary: Educational, readable and thought provoking
Review: I found this book enjoyable reading. It uses many standard economic ideas, but does not assume the reader knows them and it explains them clearly and simply. For instance, his description of the "Luddite Fallacy" is one of the best I have seen. The subject that economists study, human interaction, is too complex to be a solved problem. Over the years there have been guesses that have not worked out. The theme of this book is based on the idea that people are entrepreneurial. If the developed world gives the less developed world a whole pile of money, then the entrepreneurial thing to do is to try and get some of it. Unfortunately, that will not necessarily be the use of the money that is best for the long term growth of the country. There are a number of well meaning actions that the developing world has taken that have had unintended consequences and Easterly gives great examples of them. The question he asks and what he proposes is: what actions will incentivise people to do the things that will result in the best long term results? Sometimes that might require toughlove, and as such may not be politically appealing, but it makes sense, as William Easterly so clearly shows in this readable and significant book.
Rating:
Summary: Educational, readable and thought provoking
Review: I found this book enjoyable reading. It uses many standard economic ideas, but does not assume the reader knows them and it explains them clearly and simply. For instance, his description of the "Luddite Fallacy" is one of the best I have seen. The subject that economists study, human interaction, is too complex to be a solved problem. Over the years there have been guesses that have not worked out. The theme of this book is based on the idea that people are entrepreneurial. If the developed world gives the less developed world a whole pile of money, then the entrepreneurial thing to do is to try and get some of it. Unfortunately, that will not necessarily be the use of the money that is best for the long term growth of the country. There are a number of well meaning actions that the developing world has taken that have had unintended consequences and Easterly gives great examples of them. The question he asks and what he proposes is: what actions will incentivise people to do the things that will result in the best long term results? Sometimes that might require toughlove, and as such may not be politically appealing, but it makes sense, as William Easterly so clearly shows in this readable and significant book.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, Enjoyable, and Useful
Review: I read the book over a weekend, and enjoyed it immensely. It is superbly written - I had a difficult time putting it down. Again, a fantastic read; I don't know what Bill Easterly will do for an encore.
Rating:
Summary: The Book they Tried to Ban
Review: I was prompted to buy this book because I read in today's (8/9/01) Financial Times that the World Bank is taking disciplinary action against the author for daring to write an article that questions the way that the international aid industry runs itself - the article was based on his research for this book. Apparently there is no stipulation that forbids World Bank employees from writing articles. This seems to be Nazi-style censorship from a vast behemoth bureaucracy of eternally dubious value; but if it prompts a lot of people into buying the book then it will have backfired. The Financial Times article quotes another World Bank economist as saying that the Bank's actions "sends a message to other people ... that there is not much to protect him [Easterly]" and continues that the person quoted refused to speak on the record for fear of retribution - and this is also the reason that this reviewer prefers to remain anonymous.
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