5/22/2023 0 Comments The bottom billion review![]() ![]() Unlike others, like Diamond and Acemoglu, who consider geography and institutional context over time, Collier’s neglect of the past may be the biggest weakness in The Bottom Billion.Methodologically Collier’s book has been criticized for representing solely the “voices” of Anglophone economists like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, whereas the book would have benefited from including the perspectives of scholars from developing countries like Amartya Sen (Mittelman 2007 Lipton 2008, 754). However, Collier’s main shortcomings emerge in neglecting the historical context, the role of Western states in the traps and solutions, and methodological gaps in statistics. Overall, his book makes for a broad and strong piece. In proposing policy, Collier takes a middle-of-the-road approach between those who support aid, free trade, military intervention, and international norms. In a straightforward manner, Collier argues that countries where the poorest billion people live struggle because of four traps: conflict, natural resources, being landlocked, and bad governance. ![]() ![]() Paul Collier’s book The Bottom Billion convincingly explains why the poorest countries are seemingly stuck at low levels of development, and prescribes policies to tackle this stagnation. ![]()
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