Customer Reviews:
 Poorest billion June 28, 2008
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
What do we do with them?
Prof. Collier of Oxford University, has done years of research, publishing, conferences, on this topic. Yet, one-size- fit-all solution never came up.
With civil war, ethnic conflict, fighting for natural resources, bad governance, bad neighbors, military power, aids from G8, law, trade policy issues, one would think that the solution is not possible.
What is needed is to have a strong and capable leadership at the top. With a strong leader, the country can change.
We need to focus on a group of countries at a time. G8 countries are drilling oil, gas, and minerals in Africa now. China recently sent 500,000 to Africa to build highway, bridges, telephone systems, etc.
It is possible to accomplish.
But this book does not include any of the African success stories.
Everyone knows the problem. But the solution is the most important for the bottom billions.
 Excellent Book Should Be Read By Everyone Concerned with Poverty June 27, 2008
Collier is a serious scholar in the world of development and here he has written a very important book. Here is the basic argument - while it sucks to be poor in countries like India, India is heading for relative prosperity. Where is really, really sucks to be poor is in a number of countries, concentrated in Africa where there is little hope of breaking out of a cycle of severe poverty. Collier pinpoints four ways in which these countries stay at the bottom - (1) they are racked by civil wars; (2) they're rich in a specific natural resource which stifles economic group in other areas; (3) they are surrounded by awful neighbors; and/or (4) they are a small country which is consistently horrifically governed. Collier proposes a number of concrete steps to deal with some of these problems, steps which I find to be realistic if perhaps politically unlikely at times. For example, Collier is totally in support of military intervention, of course he thinks there is a right way and wrong way to do it, but still, you're not hearing Jeff Sachs talk about sending in guns to cure poverty and with the disaster that has been the Iraq war, I think it will be a long time before the developed world is interested in dangerous humanitarian missions.
This is the book of a man who has spent a long time in world of bureaucracies whose mandate is to fight poverty, and some of Collier's ideas are a bit gun-ho in reaction to what he rightly thinks is a lack of will power from the developed world. I don't think all of his ideas are good ones, and many of them I think are unlikely given the developed world's current lack of commitment to fighting poverty, but if you have any interest in development and poverty reduction you have to read this book.
 Will stimulate your thinking June 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love books like this. I am not a development expert not involved in international business nor government. Just a average middle class guy who tries to think beyond the bounds of my little world.
Can't argue whether anything he put on these pages is wrong or right. It's engaging writing and I often found myself pausing to ponder some point Collier makes. All-in-all, a great read.
One additional note: The first chapter is very wonkish...lots of statistics and figures. It may put you off and keep you from reading further....if so just skip to Chapter 3. You can still get the gist of Collier's argument.
Bottom Billion- They can be helped! June 22, 2008
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
Paul Collier wrote this book with all the facts on the table.
He understands what he is talking about. As an African I couldn't agree more
with what he wrote. He has laid out the 4 major traps that poor countries(countries with slow growing economies) are faced with.Paul Collier states that these four traps are:
-The Conflict trap
-The Natural Resource trap
- Being Landlocked with Bad Neighbours
- and Bad Governance in a small country
He goes on to explain how poor states can be helped out of these traps.This is a great book that everyone who cares about the poor must own. It offers strong solutions that the world community must take seriously and work hard to implement. This book was well researched for. Great Book.Great work Paul Collier. I'd forever keep this book.
Very Interesting May 26, 2008
Recommend this book to anyone who ponders the fate of the poorest countries of the world. Some very interesting theories and anecdotes about how they came to be that way.
All well argued and easy to read for the layman.
And 50% cheaper via Amazon compared to ordering it via my local bookstore !
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