Easterly at his furious best

"The Ideology of Development" is William Easterly at the top of his form. Furious, sad, but a bit hopeful. Furious that "since the fall of communism, the West has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory". Furious at the gooey hubris of Jeffrey Sachs and Thomas Friedman. Furious enough to eviserate the lords of Development in just two paragraphs:

So the admirable concern of rich countries for the tragedies of world poverty is thus channeled into fattening the international aid bureaucracy, the self-appointed priesthood of Development. Like other ideologies, this thinking favors collective goals such as national poverty reduction, national economic growth, and the global Millennium Development Goals, over the aspirations of individuals. Bureaucrats who write poverty-reduction frameworks outrank individuals who actually reduce poverty by, say, starting a business. Just as Marxists favored world revolution and socialist internationalism, Development stresses world goals over the autonomy of societies to choose their own path. It favors doctrinaire abstractions such as “market-friendly policies,” “good investment climate,” and “pro-poor globalization” over the freedom of individuals.

Development also shares another Marxist trait: It aspires to be scientific. Finding the one correct solution to poverty is seen as a scientific problem to be solved by the experts. They are always sure they know the answer, vehemently reject disagreement, and then later change their answers. In psychiatry, this is known as Borderline Personality Disorder. For the Development Experts, it’s a way of life. . . .

Attention should be paid.

Comments

[brian]

This link also discusses some issues on development, but even more worthwhile is the illustration of how to best present data. The 2006 video is good, but the more recent 2007 video is even better-more showmanship.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/speakers/view/id/90