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The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.90091724
EAN: 9780195311457
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0195311450
Label: Oxford University Press
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: April 27, 2007
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Studio: Oxford University Press
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Editorial Review:
Global poverty, Paul Collier points out, is actually falling quite rapidly for about eighty percent of the world. The real crisis lies in a group of about 50 failing states, the bottom billion, whose problems defy traditional approaches to alleviating poverty.
In The Bottom Billion, Collier contends that these fifty failed states pose the central challenge of the developing world in the twenty-first century. The book shines a 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 nation between reformers and corrupt leaders--and the corrupt are winning. Collier analyzes the causes of failure, pointing to a set of traps that snare these countries, including civil war, a dependence on the extraction and export of natural resources, and bad governance. Standard solutions do not work against these traps, 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, and new international charters, and even conduct carefully calibrated military interventions.
As former director of research for the World Bank and current Director of the Center for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University, Paul 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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Poorest billion
What do we do with them?
Prof. Collier of Oxford University, has done years of research, publishing, conferences, on this topic. Yet, one-size- fit-all solution never came up.
With civil war, ethnic conflict, fighting for natural resources, bad governance, bad neighbors, military power, aids from G8, law, trade policy issues, one would think that the solution is not possible.
What is needed is to have a strong and capable leadership at the top. With a strong ... Read More
Rating:  - Excellent Book Should Be Read By Everyone Concerned with Poverty
Collier is a serious scholar in the world of development and here he has written a very important book. Here is the basic argument - while it sucks to be poor in countries like India, India is heading for relative prosperity. Where is really, really sucks to be poor is in a number of countries, concentrated in Africa where there is little hope of breaking out of a cycle of severe poverty. Collier pinpoints four ways in which these countries stay at the bottom - (1) they are racked by civil wars; (2) they're ... Read More
Rating:  - Will stimulate your thinking
I love books like this. I am not a development expert not involved in international business nor government. Just a average middle class guy who tries to think beyond the bounds of my little world.
Can't argue whether anything he put on these pages is wrong or right. It's engaging writing and I often found myself pausing to ponder some point Collier makes. All-in-all, a great read.
One additional note: The first chapter is very wonkish...lots of statistics and figures. ... Read More
Rating: - Bottom Billion- They can be helped!
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
Paul Collier wrote this book with all the facts on the table.
He understands what he is talking about. As an African I couldn't agree more
with what he wrote. He has laid out the 4 major traps that poor countries(countries with slow growing economies) are faced with.Paul Collier states that these four traps are:
-The Conflict trap
-The Natural Resource trap
- Being Landlocked ... Read More
Rating: - Very Interesting
Recommend this book to anyone who ponders the fate of the poorest countries of the world. Some very interesting theories and anecdotes about how they came to be that way.
All well argued and easy to read for the layman.
And 50% cheaper via Amazon compared to ordering it via my local bookstore !
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