Getting Better

Economist Charles Kenny pushes back against the many voices claiming that the search for a simple formula for economic growth has failed. While the income gap between rich and developing countries keeps growing, he gathers evidence of broad gains in health, peace, education and liberty, and even in happiness. His explanation is the global spread of inexpensive technologies like bed nets and vaccines, and of ideas like political rights. Kenny does not claim that life is good for everyone or that the work is finished, but he argues that improvements have traveled far and can travel further, and that understanding how they spread could make the world better still.

Bill Gates called it an elegant, data-backed account of how quality of life has improved dramatically even in the poorest countries. Steven Pinker included it in his Guardian list of books to make readers optimists.