The Tyranny of Experts
Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor
About the book
Development economist William Easterly argues that treating global poverty as a technical problem for experts has brought little lasting progress and has served as cover for abuse. Tracing the history of the anti-poverty effort, he shows how expert fixes for immediate problems frequently ignored the political causes behind them and left benevolent autocrats with more power. Colonial rulers, postcolonial dictators and American and British policymakers seeking autocratic allies all used development to justify violating rights. Easterly calls for respect for individual freedom over technocracy, and for open debate on alternatives rather than a fixed plan. Several reviewers faulted the book for offering no practical solutions.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb praised it, crediting Easterly's earlier case that top-down development looks good on paper but has so far failed to deliver with shaping his own argument against naive interventionism.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Flaneur)
The fact that top-down development methods are great on paper but have not produced benefits ("so far") is a point Easterly has made before, heavily influencing yours truly in the formation his own argument against naive interventionism and the collection of "humanitarians" fulfilling their personal growth and shielding themselves from their conscience... This is more powerful: the West has been putting development ahead of moral issues, patronizingly setting aside the right of the people to decide their own fate, including whether they want these "improvements", hence compounding failure and turning much of development into an agenda that benefits the careers (and angst) of "humanitarians", imperial policies, and, not least, local autocrats *without* any moral contribution. Talking about a sucker problem.
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To put it in an aphorism, they didn't ask the people if they would rather get respect and no aid rather than aid and no respect.
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