The White Man's Burden: How the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good

A very worthwhile lecture for those of you in the Philadelphia area:

Thursday, March 15, 2007
6:30pm
Logan Hall G17
36th & Spruce St.

PennSID and the Provost's Office proudly present Dr. William Easterly
Co-sponsors: Health & Societies, African Studies, & the International Affairs Association

Dr. William Easterly will be speaking about strategies for international development and the challenges of delivering effective international aid. His talk will be based on the sixteen years he spent as a Research Economist at the World Bank, and on his most recent book "The White Man's Burden: How the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good."

"White Man's Burden" was named among the Best Books of 2006 by The Economist, The Washington Post, and Financial Times. In it, Dr. Easterly criticizes international aid strategies which tacitly assume that Western donors "know what is best for everyone" and lack mechanisms for accountability (without which "broken" economic systems won't be strengthened). In contrast to the current donor system, he argues that "true victories against poverty" are most often achieved through "indigenous, ground-level planning."