Try free for 30 days
-
The Bottom Billion
- Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
- Narrated by: Gideon Emery
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $22.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
- By: John J. Mearsheimer
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A decade after the cold war ended, policy makers and academics foresaw a new era of peace and prosperity, an era in which democracy and open trade would herald the "end of history." The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, sadly shattered these idyllic illusions, and John Mearsheimer's masterful new book explains why these harmonious visions remain utopian.
-
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy
- An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade. New Preface and Epilogue with Updates on Economic Issues and Main Characters 2nd Edition
- By: Pietra Rivoli
- Narrated by: Rosemary Benson
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is a critically acclaimed narrative that illuminates the globalization debates and reveals the key factors to success in global business. Tracing a T-shirt's life story from a Texas cotton field to a Chinese factory and back to a US storefront before arriving at the used clothing market in Africa, the book uncovers the political and economic forces at work in the global economy.
-
-
Far deeper than expected, better than I hoped.
- By David on 01-06-2021
-
Born in Blackness
- Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the "dark" continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies in the heart of West Africa.
-
The Tyranny of Experts
- Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor
- By: William Easterly
- Narrated by: Chris Ciulla
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Tyranny of Experts, renowned economist William Easterly examines our failing efforts to fight global poverty, and argues that the "expert approved" top-down approach to development has not only made little lasting progress, but has proven a convenient rationale for decades of human rights violations perpetrated by colonialists, postcolonial dictators, and US and UK foreign policymakers seeking autocratic allies. Easterly demonstrates how our traditional antipoverty tactics have trampled the freedom of the poor and suppressed a vital debate about alternative approaches....
-
Why Nations Fail
- The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
- By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
-
-
Single minded attempt to prove a point.
- By steve on 27-08-2018
-
Toxic Charity
- How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It)
- By: Robert D. Lupton
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Toxic Charity provides proven new models for charitable groups who want to help - not sabotage - those whom they desire to serve. Lupton, the founder of FCS Urban Ministries (Focused Community Strategies) in Atlanta, the voice of the Urban Perspectives newsletter, and the author of Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life, has been at the forefront of urban ministry activism for 40 years. His groundbreaking Toxic Charity shows us how to start serving needy and impoverished members of our communities in a way that will lead to lasting, real-world change.
-
-
Thought provoking but specific
- By Jessica Hall on 12-01-2021
-
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
- By: John J. Mearsheimer
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A decade after the cold war ended, policy makers and academics foresaw a new era of peace and prosperity, an era in which democracy and open trade would herald the "end of history." The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, sadly shattered these idyllic illusions, and John Mearsheimer's masterful new book explains why these harmonious visions remain utopian.
-
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy
- An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade. New Preface and Epilogue with Updates on Economic Issues and Main Characters 2nd Edition
- By: Pietra Rivoli
- Narrated by: Rosemary Benson
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is a critically acclaimed narrative that illuminates the globalization debates and reveals the key factors to success in global business. Tracing a T-shirt's life story from a Texas cotton field to a Chinese factory and back to a US storefront before arriving at the used clothing market in Africa, the book uncovers the political and economic forces at work in the global economy.
-
-
Far deeper than expected, better than I hoped.
- By David on 01-06-2021
-
Born in Blackness
- Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the "dark" continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies in the heart of West Africa.
-
The Tyranny of Experts
- Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor
- By: William Easterly
- Narrated by: Chris Ciulla
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Tyranny of Experts, renowned economist William Easterly examines our failing efforts to fight global poverty, and argues that the "expert approved" top-down approach to development has not only made little lasting progress, but has proven a convenient rationale for decades of human rights violations perpetrated by colonialists, postcolonial dictators, and US and UK foreign policymakers seeking autocratic allies. Easterly demonstrates how our traditional antipoverty tactics have trampled the freedom of the poor and suppressed a vital debate about alternative approaches....
-
Why Nations Fail
- The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
- By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
-
-
Single minded attempt to prove a point.
- By steve on 27-08-2018
-
Toxic Charity
- How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It)
- By: Robert D. Lupton
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Toxic Charity provides proven new models for charitable groups who want to help - not sabotage - those whom they desire to serve. Lupton, the founder of FCS Urban Ministries (Focused Community Strategies) in Atlanta, the voice of the Urban Perspectives newsletter, and the author of Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life, has been at the forefront of urban ministry activism for 40 years. His groundbreaking Toxic Charity shows us how to start serving needy and impoverished members of our communities in a way that will lead to lasting, real-world change.
-
-
Thought provoking but specific
- By Jessica Hall on 12-01-2021
-
Pathologies of Power
- Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor
- By: Paul Farmer, Amartya Sen
- Narrated by: Jack Chekijian
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pathologies of Power uses harrowing stories of life - and death - in extreme situations to interrogate our understanding of human rights. Paul Farmer argues that promoting the social and economic rights of the world's poor is the most important human rights struggle of our times. With passionate eyewitness accounts from the prisons of Russia and the beleaguered villages of Haiti and Chiapas, this book links the lived experiences of individual victims to a broader analysis of structural violence.
-
The Wealth of Nations
- By: Adam Smith
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 36 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The foundation for all modern economic thought and political economy, The Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Scottish economist Adam Smith, who introduces the world to the very idea of economics and capitalism in the modern sense of the words.
-
-
Classic underlying
- By Kindle Customer on 19-04-2018
-
Thinking in Systems
- A Primer
- By: Donella H. Meadows
- Narrated by: Tia Rider Sorensen
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the years following her role as the lead author of the international best seller, Limits to Growth - the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet - Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem-solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute's Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world....
-
-
Slow but worth your patience
- By David on 18-01-2019
-
Economics in America
- An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality
- By: Angus Deaton
- Narrated by: Angus Deaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When economist Angus Deaton immigrated to the United States from Britain in the early 1980s, he was awed by America’s strengths and shocked by the extraordinary gaps he witnessed between people. Economics in America explains in clear terms how the field of economics addresses the most pressing issues of our times—from poverty, retirement, and the minimum wage to the ravages of the nation’s uniquely disastrous health care system—and narrates Deaton’s own account of his experiences as a naturalized US citizen and academic economist.
-
Naked Statistics
- Stripping the Dread from the Data
- By: Charles Wheelan
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From batting averages and political polls to game shows and medical research, the real-world application of statistics continues to grow by leaps and bounds. How can we catch schools that cheat on standardized tests? How does Netflix know which movies you'll like? What is causing the rising incidence of autism? As best-selling author Charles Wheelan shows us in Naked Statistics, the right data and a few well-chosen statistical tools can help us answer these questions and more.
-
-
Worth persevering
- By Cedric Hodges on 29-10-2018
-
Superforecasting
- The Art and Science of Prediction
- By: Philip Tetlock, Dan Gardner
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone would benefit from seeing further into the future, whether buying stocks, crafting policy, launching a new product, or simply planning the week's meals. Unfortunately, people tend to be terrible forecasters. As Wharton professor Philip Tetlock showed in a landmark 2005 study, even experts' predictions are only slightly better than chance. However, an important and underreported conclusion of that study was that some experts do have real foresight.
-
-
Of little value
- By Prophetmines on 22-02-2018
Publisher's Summary
In the universally acclaimed and award-winning The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier reveals that 50 failed states - home to the poorest one billion people on earth - pose the central challenge of the developing world in the 21st century. The book shines much-needed light on this group of small nations, largely unnoticed by the industrialized West, that are dropping further and further behind the majority of the world's people, often falling into an absolute decline in living standards.
A struggle rages within each of these nations between reformers and corrupt leaders - and the corrupt are winning. Collier analyzes the causes of failure, pointing to a set of traps that ensnare these countries, including civil war, a dependence on the extraction and export of natural resources, and bad governance. Standard solutions do not work, he writes; aid is often ineffective, and globalization can actually make matters worse, driving development to more stable nations.
What the bottom billion need, Collier argues, is a bold new plan supported by the Group of Eight industrialized nations. If failed states are ever to be helped, the G8 will have to adopt preferential trade policies, new laws against corruption, new international charters, and even conduct carefully calibrated military interventions. Collier has spent a lifetime working to end global poverty. In The Bottom Billion, he offers real hope for solving one of the great humanitarian crises facing the world today.
Critic Reviews
"If Sachs seems too saintly and Easterly too cynical, then Collier is the authentic old Africa hand: he knows the terrain and has a keen ear.... If you've ever found yourself on one side or the other of those arguments -and who hasn't? - then you simply must read this book." (Niall Ferguson, The New York Times Book Review)
More from the same
What listeners say about The Bottom Billion
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-09-2018
Better than expected
After the first hour or two I thought I'd hate this book - the author is extremely egotistical and uses most of his own work to back himself up (and name-drops all his friends and academic colleagues for no real reason).
However, I ended up appreciating his arguments, even the extremely contentious ones. He argues his points clearly and admits the limitations of his conclusions. And I ended up, if not agreeing, then seeing the potential merit in his ideas.
There is definitely a focus on economic poverty, and I would argue that this misses somewhat of the picture, as poverty is also about the lived experience and social aspects too.
In all, if you're wanting to get one person's opinion on global poverty, then this book is good. Just make sure to get other opinions from other books too.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jack
- 15-04-2017
incredible insight into the developing world
This was an amazing insight into new and innovative ways at looking to the future of aid, trade and development of the third world. it also explained the success seen in Brazil, China, India, and much of Africa. The narrator also had a wonderful voice.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeremiah David
- 23-03-2018
Backed by statistics
One of the best books I've read on development so far. It applies statistics to an area that largely seems to be governed by theory and overall provides a balanced view on effective development strategies.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!