About this title: Global poverty is falling rapidly, but in around fifty failing states, the world's poorest people face a tragedy that is growing inexorably worse. This bottom billion live on less than a dollar a day and while the rest of the world moves steadily forward, this forgotten billion is left further and further behind with potentially serious consequences not only for them but for the stability of the rest of the world. Why do the states these people live in defy all the attempts of the international aid community to help them? Why does nothing seem to make a difference? In The Bottom Billion, Paul ...
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Description: Fine. 0195311450 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small blue OUP stamp on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780195373387ISBN:0195373383
Description: New. Items ship once payments have cleared. Media mail 5-8 days Priority 2-3 days and international orders may be subject to customs clearance procedures which can cause delays. Seasonal delays can occur in postal system. All items ship within 24 hours of receiving payment. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780195311457ISBN:0195311450
Description: As New in As New dust jacket. 9780195311457. Tight, clean and crisp. An excellent copy protected in a new Mylar cover.; 8vo; 205 pages. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
Date Published: 2008-08-22
ISBN-13:9780195373387ISBN:0195373383
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780195373387. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780195311457ISBN:0195311450
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 205 p. Audience: General/trade. This book is brand new and has never been used. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780195374636ISBN:0195374630
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 224 pages. The bottom billion is an elegant and impassioned synthesis from one of the world's leading experts on africa and poverty. it was hailed as "the best non-fiction book so far this year" by nicholas kristoff of the new york times. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780195374636ISBN:0195374630
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 196x129 mm. (224) the bottom billion is an elegant and impassioned synthesis from one of the world's leading experts on africa and poverty. it was hailed as "the best non-fiction book so far this year" by nicholas kristoff of the new york times. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780195374636ISBN:0195374630
Description: The Bottom Billion is an elegant and impassioned synthesis from one of the world's leading experts on Africa and poverty. It was hailed as "the best non-fiction book so far this year" by Nicholas Kristoff of The New York Times. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780195373387ISBN:0195373383
Description: Good. Paperback. Used. May include moderately worn cover, writing, markings or slight discoloration. SKU: 23882515 All orders shipped within 1 business day. 14 day money back guarantee ISBN: 9780195373387. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780195373387ISBN:0195373383
Description: New. In this acclaimed and award-winning work, Collier shines much-needed light on a group of small nations--home to the poorest one billion people on Earth--that pose the central challenge of the developing world in the 21st century. read more
"This excellently written non-fiction book describes the author's theories of why the least-developed countries of the world are (and remain) the least-developed countries of the world. He uses statistics to sketch out specific scenarios (for example, the effect of democratic elections on the likelihood of a country experiencing another civil war versus a coup), and follows up with policy recommendations to improve the chances of these countries breaking the poverty and corruption cycles. Inciteful and logical, I think Paul Collier makes some great arguments and exposes some real errors in the way aid projects, budget support, and even natural resource income can undermine less-developed countries' development efforts. It's a complicated and depressing world... but at least Paul Collier has dissected some of the reasons for it and gives ideas of how to overcome the problems that keep the world's poorest countries cycling through violence and collapse."
"I found this a really good overview of some of the main issues in economic development. I particularly liked that it is reasonably explicit about the empirical research around which Collier's arguments are organized, which both grounds them and allows one to move forward on the specific questions he brings up that are of most interest. It's short, and so necessarily an overview, but this also makes it a great first point for someone interested in global poverty, what work is being done to alleviate it, and how we can all engage that work."
It is a good book and I recommend it to anyone. It is clear and well written but... Ok, the title states: "why the poorest countries are failing and what it can be done". Well, as Paul Collier says, this book aims to put forward a new agenda for the G8 and it is a lot about what the governments of the rich countries should do to help the forgotten bottom billion with their immense poverty.
... however I cannot help but think that it is much more than a political problem. And Collier, insists and make an appeal to rouse ourselves from a state of inertia. What does he really mean? What we should do? It seems to me he means that people are seen as a public opinion that can lead our governments to adopt new radical plans of action and measures.
I do believe this is immensely important but it is more than that! We are people and, I am afraid, consumers that can do much in our everyday life. It is partially true what he states in his book -that common people aren't responsible at all of the misery of the third world. Why writing a book for the "public opinion" on "what can be done to help the poorest countries" if it is all about policies that the governments of rich countries have to put forward? I think that the consumers have a massive power to change things. Think if we all bought things with intelligence, it would make a huge impact on the economies of poorest countries... probably not the bottom billion, but it is the right path we should start to follow. Deciding to buy this local product, boycott that corporation, deciding to buy from the fair trade... consuming in a clever way is what the common people should do. First we should eliminate ignorance and know how actually most of the people in the world live, second lead a more sober life.
Then politics, policies and everything comes. But the change should come from the common people because who are the ones who rule our governments? They are our representatives. So they should be there to put in practices policies that we all want. And we want to improve this world, don't we? We want everyone to have an opportunity. We want the change!
For this I have found the chapter about the commercial policies in the rich countries a little incomplete. And the huge attack on the study written from that researcher of SOAS for Christian Aid was very ideological.
Paul Collier' studies are interesting and important. But sometimes it seems to me they are just words... or, better, they are not enough! We need more concreteness!
p.s. what does he mean when he says that the World Bank is not politically influenced???"
"I've met many who have formed their opinions about why certain countries and regions are poor and what can be done about it. For the most part, these people can be divided into two camps, crazy leftists who blame the United States and capitalism for all of the world's problems and poverty, and crazy capitalists who believe that lack of education, infrastructure, and general laziness are the reasons for poor countries and regions. This book should be read by those in both camps so that they can see that they are neither completely right nor completely wrong, they are just perhaps a bit uniformed on some true causes of poverty and some solutions that just might work."
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