The first thing that I noticed when I started reading this book was how dated the information in it was, and this almost got me to put it down and move on to another read. But I couldn’t be happier that I didn’t do that because even though The End of Poverty was published in 2005 and thus much of the statistics in it are not quite up to date, the insights it provides into the true economic issues the world faces are true even today (or perhaps even more so today).
I really enjoyed the writing of this book, as it was very comprehensible and well-argued without requiring too much background knowledge about the issues at hand. I was very impressed with the idea of clinical economics and the wide range of factors discussed as possible reasons for a country’s prosperity or poverty. I found the examples used to illustrate different points quite remarkable, as they were not focused solely on Africa’s current situation (in 2005), but looked at a range of countries and went into the historical events which have had an impact on those countries’ economies.
While the tone of the book was generally positive and hopeful, strongly focused on what we can do now to improve things, there was no sugar-coating of the seriousness of the matters discussed. I felt that while the author was very critical of the role of the United States in relation to the issue of relieving extreme poverty around the world, he was not looking for a scape-goat to simply put the blame on. Instead, this criticism was supported by relevant data and personal experience working with US officials which demonstrate why allocating a certain amount of national GNP for foreign aid can sometimes turn out to be so difficult.
In short, I think everyone should read this book, regardless of he/she is interested in economics. In my opinion, this is a book about the real world and how real people have to live because they haven’t been lucky enough to be born in a developed country, and I think the best word to describe it would be “eye-opening”.
I really enjoyed the writing of this book, as it was very comprehensible and well-argued without requiring too much background knowledge about the issues at hand. I was very impressed with the idea of clinical economics and the wide range of factors discussed as possible reasons for a country’s prosperity or poverty. I found the examples used to illustrate different points quite remarkable, as they were not focused solely on Africa’s current situation (in 2005), but looked at a range of countries and went into the historical events which have had an impact on those countries’ economies.
While the tone of the book was generally positive and hopeful, strongly focused on what we can do now to improve things, there was no sugar-coating of the seriousness of the matters discussed. I felt that while the author was very critical of the role of the United States in relation to the issue of relieving extreme poverty around the world, he was not looking for a scape-goat to simply put the blame on. Instead, this criticism was supported by relevant data and personal experience working with US officials which demonstrate why allocating a certain amount of national GNP for foreign aid can sometimes turn out to be so difficult.
In short, I think everyone should read this book, regardless of he/she is interested in economics. In my opinion, this is a book about the real world and how real people have to live because they haven’t been lucky enough to be born in a developed country, and I think the best word to describe it would be “eye-opening”.