The elusive quest for growth: Economists''adventures and misadventures in the tropics, MIT Press,

By William R. Easterly. 2001

1,208 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Since the end of World War II, economists have tried to figure out how poor countries in the tropics could attain standards of living approaching those of countries in Europe and North America. Attempted remedies have included providing foreign aid, investing in machines, fostering education, controlling population growth, and making aid loans as well as forgiving those loans on condition of reforms. None of these solutions has delivered as promised. The problem is not the failure of economics, William Easterly argues, but the failure to apply economic principles to practical policy work. In this book Easterly shows how these solutions all violate the basic principle of economics, that people—private individuals and businesses, government officials, even aid donors—respond to incentives. Easterly first discusses the importance of growth. He then analyzes the development solutions that have failed. Finally, he suggests alternative approaches to the problem. Written in an accessible, at times irreverent, style, Easterly's book combines modern growth theory with anecdotes from his fieldwork for the World Bank.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics

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Citations in the corpus

The Scope of IMF Conditionality (2008, background): “…its content+36 30+ See Krasner 1985; and Dreher and Vaubel 2004+ 31+ See Putnam 1988; and Haggard and Kaufman 1995+ 32+ Williamson 1983+ 33+ See Meltzer 2000; Easterly 2001; and Stiglitz 2002+ 34+ See Feldstein 1998; Hills, Peterson, and Goldstein 1999; and Goldstein 2001+ 35+ Feldstein 1998+ An…”
Exploring Social Capital Debates at the World Bank (2004, background): “This instability reflects a growing institutional self-doubt that comes in part from the increasingly explicit awareness within the Bank that many of its projects have not worked, and worse, may have been part of the problem [Easterly, 2001].”
Rethinking the Emerging Post‐Washington Consensus (2005, background): “Among the influential contributions in this context are Easterly (2001); Krugman (1990); Rodrik (1997, 1999).”
Entrepreneurship, economic growth, and innovation: Are feedback effects at work? (2014, background): “…Madrid, Spain. ndo), mmendezpi@ccee.ucm.es vier Inc. shows that such diffusion could have negative effects on the employment rate because of the resulting unemployment as technology takes the place of humans (Easterly, 2001; Mortensen & Pissarides, 1998; Vivarelli & Pianta, 2000, among others).”
Delineating the Domain of Development Entrepreneurship: A Market–Based Approach to Facilitating Inclusive Economic Growth (2011, background): “Because it is often not in the self-interest of political elites in LDCs to initiate institutional reforms (Easterly, 2001, 2006), many reform efforts that have led to institutional change have begun as grassroots movements initiated by social entrepreneurs (Alvord et al., 2004) and socio-political…”
Market Facilitation by Local Government and Firm Efficiency: Evidence from China (2013, background): “…in economic development, especially in the context of the so-called East Asian miracle (Wade, 1990; World Bank, 1993; Page, 1994; Aoki, et al., 1996; Stiglitz, 1996, 2003; Shleifer, 1997; Stiglitz and Yusuf, 2001; Easterly, 2001; Rodrik, 2008a and 2008b; Brown et al., 2009; Lin and Monga, 2010).”