A must-read for scholars and practitioners of economic development

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	• The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It Paul Collier Oxford University Press, 2007 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 41 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A must-read for scholars and practitioners of economic development

Collier analyzes the key reasons for the lack of development of 58 countries he classified as being at the bottom of the pyramid. The analysis focuses in the poorest African countries, and a few others from Latin America and Asia (he named Africa +). In order to avoid any self-fulfilling prophecy, the list of the countries is not presented, but several countries are explicitly used as case studies.

Based on thorough research and recent findings, the book analyzes four development traps these countries might face: the conflict trap (civil war, coups), the natural resources trap (resources curse), the trap of being landlocked with bad neighbors, and the trap of bad governance in a small country. The last chapter presents specific recommendations aimed for the G8 countries to take action. This book is highly recommended for scholars and practitioners of economic development, as well as for anyone with genuine interest in eradicating poverty.

It's worth mentioning that there is a new book from Collier and Stiglitz entirely devoted to one of these traps: "Escaping the Resource Curse (Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia: Challenges in Development and Globalization)". Finally, notice that the title uses a clever wording following up of the "famous" book "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits", which is actually NOT a book on development, as its author claims, though is a good reference for Business Schools on how to successfully do business with the poor.

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Way better than The End of Poverty

This is a well-written, if quick, reading on poverty which avoids the ideological bents of development writing. Read it.

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Realism about Global Poverty

Paul Collier. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done about It. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economics at Oxford University. Previously, he worked for the World Bank and the British government's Commission on Africa. As an expert on Africa and economics, he has analyzed the current global economic situation and discovered that 58 states, mostly in Africa, can be classified as failing or failed. The citizens of these nations constitute the "bottom billion," who have been left out of global prosperity. He calls this "a world with a vast running sore--a billion people stuck in desperate conditions alongside unprecedented prosperity" (p. 175). He is determined to find practical ways to help these people out of their dilemma.

Contrary to Jeffrey Sachs, who approaches global poverty as a problem to be solved through increased western aid, Collier says that aid is not a solution by itself and it can even make the problem worse. Contrary to William Easterly, who emphasizes the need for local solutions to poverty, Collier still believes in collective action by the G-8 nations on behalf of the bottom billion. Collier strikes the middle ground between these two other experts, calling for hardnosed decisions about solving the problems unique to the bottom billion. He has little time for the efforts of celebrities and some charitable organizations who approach poverty with "a headless heart" (p. 4). He prefers hard data and analysis.

Collier is a number cruncher, and appears to have investigated issues of the bottom billion from every angle. While other economists may clutter their work with data and jargon, Collier keeps all the technical matters out of sight in order to deliver the bottom line of his research; this makes the book more readable.

Whereas the other five billion humans have begun to benefit from the effects of globalization, Collier says that that train has already left the station where the bottom billion could have boarded it. And it will be a long time before the train comes around to them again because China and India have taken all the available seats. In fact, he calculates that the bottom billion will be stuck in their present sad state on average for the next 59 years!

Why is Collier so gloomy about their prospects? He describes four traps that the bottom billion fall into: the conflict trap (73% have gone through a civil war), natural resource trap (29% rely on exports of some resource like oil or minerals), being landlocked (30% have restricted access to ports and are surrounded by bad neighbors), and bad governance (76% are badly governed and make bad decisions about the economy). These traps are often interrelated, as the abundance of a natural resource may lead to conflict.

The ironic curse of having an abundant resource is that it brings in sizeable revenues that detract from making necessary reforms or from diversifying into other export products. And aid can be just like a resource trap, creating not only sudden extra money, but allowing a system of patronage to develop instead of accomplishing public good. Collier cites studies that estimate that aid ceases to be effective when it reaches 16% of Gross Domestic Product, which is close to the average current level of aid to African nations already.

Collier is not so gloomy as to say that nothing can be done about the bottom billion. He describes four instruments that can help if used wisely: aid, security, laws and charters, and trade. He does not think that globalization will automatically correct anything for the bottom billion, but only wise intervention from other nations to help the reform-minded citizens of the failing states. For example, he believes that extended foreign military intervention can best be used in postconflict situations to provide stability and prevent available resources going back into military expenses at a time when opportunity exists for reforms in crucial areas. International laws and charters can describe and enforce universal norms expected for aid and trade. And in trade, the bottom billion need protection from the giants of Asia to break into manufacturing and services in order to move out of the resource trap.

Overall, The Bottom Billion is one of the more realistic books that seeks to improve life and conditions for the poorest people on the planet. This makes the book sobering to read but gives it a feel of solid research into the causes and remedies of their situation. On the other hand, Collier's recommendations still seem to suffer from wishful thinking, assuming that the international community may actually work in harmony to tackle this thorny problem. His analysis seems realistic but his remedies seem utopian. There is scant evidence, for example, that nations have learned how to use military intervention constructively to solve actual problems of the bottom billion. Collier cites only one instance, the British intervention in Sierra Leone, as being on target to help that nation get back on its feet. Other interventions, however, have mostly made the problems much worse, as in Iraq.

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Excellent Overview of Complex Issues

I found Paul Collier's work to be extremely informative regarding the all-to-common political and economic "traps" challenging the poorest countries (primarily located in Africa), which prevent them from escaping their misery. Africa is an area often overlooked by academics since it's much easier to write about the "other" developing countries (e.g., the "BRIC") since they are easier to live in, study in, and gather data. Paul Collier has dedicated much of his life to researching Africa's woes and it shows here in spades. Perhaps most revealing to me, however, is that the lessons he's learned and his prescriptions for the Bottom Billion can be applied just as easily to other developing countries also, and I am certain that technicians will (at least I hope so). The fact is that there are about 5 billion people living in developing countries that could use Paul Collier's wisdom and practical solutions for their problems --- most of which are not unique to their particular circumstance. With the exception of a country's geographic location, perhaps all other poor conditions under which these countries find themselves trapped can be improved by focusing on one thing: selfless human behavior --- otherwise known as COMPASSION.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9

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