The Tyranny of Experts (Revised)

In The Tyranny of Experts, renowned economist William Easterly uncovers our failing efforts to fight global poverty. The expert approved, top-down approach to development has not only made little lasting progress, but has proven a convenient rationale for generations of human rights violations perpetrated by colonialists, post-colonial dictators, and US foreign policymakers. Easterly presents a devastating critique of the blighted record of authoritarian development, demonstrating how traditional anti-poverty tactics have both trampled the freedom of the world's poor and suppressed a vital debate about alternative approaches to solving global poverty. Although relief agencies, such as the World Bank and the Gates Foundation, are still regarded as both well-meaning and effective, they're founded on the mistaken belief that wise technocrats from the West will be the saviors of helpless victims from the Rest. They too often support dictators, hoping that economic development will lead naturally to democracy.

In this revised edition, Easterly brings in new research that update his masterful critiques for the present. He reveals the fundamental errors inherent in the long-celebrated top-down approach, and offers a new model for Western relief agencies and developing countries alike: a model that, because it is predicated on respect for the rights of poor people, has the power to end global poverty once and for all.

William Easterly is Professor of Economics at New York University and Co-director of the NYU Development Research Institute. He is the author of several books on global politics and economics, including The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (winner of the FA Hayek Award). His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Review of Books, and Washington Post. Foreign Policy magazine named him among the Top 100 Global Public Intellectuals. He lives in New York.

In The Tyranny of Experts , renowned economist William Easterly uncovers our failing efforts to fight global poverty. The expert approved, top-down approach to development has not only made little lasting progress, but has proven a convenient rationale for generations of human rights violations perpetrated by colonialists, post-colonial dictators, and US foreign policymakers. Easterly presents a devastating critique of the blighted record of authoritarian development, demonstrating how traditional anti-poverty tactics have both trampled the freedom of the world's poor and suppressed a vital debate about alternative approaches to solving global poverty. Although relief agencies, such as the World Bank and the Gates Foundation, are still regarded as both well-meaning and effective, they're founded on the mistaken belief that wise technocrats from the West will be the saviors of helpless victims from the Rest. They too often support dictators, hoping that economic development will lead naturally to democracy.In this revised edition, Easterly brings in new research that update his masterful critiques for the present. He reveals the fundamental errors inherent in the long-celebrated top-down approach, and offers a new model for Western relief agencies and developing countries alike: a model that, because it is predicated on respect for the rights of poor people, has the power to end global poverty once and for all.

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