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

21 September 2006 12:00-13:30 (GMT+00) - Public event, London

  • At this ODI & Oxford University Press launch event, the author William Easterly will outline and discuss the ideas contained in his book The White Man's Burden.

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    Speaker:
    William Easterly, Author & Former World Bank Economist
    Discussants:
    Simon Maxwell    , Director, ODI
    Bob Picciotto, Independent Consultant & Former Vice-President, World Bank
    Chair:
    David Goodhart, Editor, Prospect Magazine

     

  • An ODI and Oxford University Press public event in the ODI Reading List series.
We are all aware of the extreme hunger and poverty that afflict the world's poor. We hear the facts, see the images on television, buy the T-shirt and are moved as individuals and governments to dig deep into our pockets. Yet what happens to all this aid? Why after 50 years and US$2.3 trillion are there still children dying for lack of twelve cent medicine? Why are there so many people still living on less than US$1 a day without clean water, food, sanitation, shelter, education or medicine?

In "The White Man's Burden", William Easterly, acclaimed author and former economist at the World Bank, addresses these twin tragedies head on. While recognising the energy and compassion behind the campaign to make poverty history he argues urgently and powerfully that grand plans and good intentions are a part of the problem not the solution. Giving aid is not enough, we must ensure that it reaches the people who need it most and the only way to make this happens is through accountability and by learning from past experiences.

Without claiming to have all the answers, William Easterly chastises the complacent and patronising attitude of the West that attempts to impose solutions from above. In this book, which is by turns angry, moving, irreverent but always rigorous, he calls on each and every one of us to take responsibility - whether donors, aid workers or ordinary citizens - so that more aid reaches the people it is supposed to help.

At this ODI & Oxford University Press launch event, the author William Easterly will outline and discuss the ideas contained in his book with Simon Maxwell and Bob Picciotto. As usual, there will be the chance to ask questions and to engage in discussion of these and related issues.