Development’s Comments (group member since Jul 06, 2014)

Development’s comments from the The Development Book Club group.

For the month of July we are reading The White Man's Burden by Bill Easterly. Discuss the book here: http://developmentbookclub.wordpress....

The discussion questions for this month are:

1. What is your biggest takeaway from The White Man’s Burden that will help you in your global development career?

2. Despite the evidence that aid does not raise growth, many organizations protest when domestic governments cut foreign aid (Oxfam comes to mind). Why is this?

3. There is a strong emphasis in this book on the scientific method. How can we make sure the results we rely on for policy and development programs are correct?

4. Among other things, Sachs and Easterly differ on their approach to giving social services. The End of Poverty suggests using money from donors to cover costs, while Easterly argues that charging for services makes development programs more efficient. What have you found works in your own experience and research?

5. Easterly suggests using a market approach to give beneficiaries of services a way to hold service providers accountable. If they don’t like the service, they can speak up or stop using it to send a message to the provider. Is there a way to give beneficiaries of aid a way to hold donors and NGO’s accountable?

6. From Fi at Women in Aid: Is it just a MAN’s burden? Are things different for women working in this sector?

For the month of July we are reading The End of Poverty by Jeff Sachs. Discuss the book here: http://developmentbookclub.wordpress....

Questions for this month:
1. For those, like me, who have heard about this book but are reading it for the first time: did your pre-conceived opinion of the book change as you read it?

What is your biggest takeaway from The End of Poverty that will help you in your global development career?
3. What resonated most with you in a positive or negative way?

4. Sachs uses a lot of personal anecdotes in mix with statistics. Is his evidence convincing?

5. He writes that the 8 barriers to economic growth are:

The poverty trap
Geography
The fiscal trap
Government failures
Cultural barriers
Geopolitics
Lack of innovation
The demographic
Is there anything you would take away or add to this list? He spends a lot of time discussing geography and technology; do you think they are as pertinent to development as he writes?

6. Sachs uses the first half of the book to explore why some countries are poor and others are not. While he went into great detail, I feel he missed the effect colonialism had on “poor” countries. He dismisses colonialism as a major deterrent to economic growth but in Chapter 3 he briefly mentions European treatment of the indigenous population in South America as a roadblock to economic success. Does anyone else think he doesn’t give enough “credit” to colonialism for current poverty?

Were there any other confusing or contradictory aspects of the book?
8. Do you agree Asia has developed more than Africa because of its increasing food production per capita?

9. How have Sachs’s definitions and responses to poverty influenced policy in developing countries? And what have the outcomes been so far? Perhaps those of you who have read The Idealist or other updates can chime in.

10. The aid-debate: Sachs receives a lot of criticism for his aid-dependent approach to ending poverty. How important do you think aid is for successful development? What are other ways to support development?

Hope to hear from you!