For some reason, I enjoy finding a good nonfiction book on economic growth more than I enjoy spotting the next Clancy thriller. Why is that? Probably an abnormally-wired chromosome.
In any case, I'm 30 pages into a real page-turner by an ex-World Bank economist who can communicate with the rest of us in plain talk, as opposed to econo-speak: The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics. It's a recent book about what works and (mostly) what doesn't work in the endeavor to help poor countries lift themselves out of poverty—but the fundamental lesson applies generally, not just to poor countries: successful programs require that the right incentives be put in place.
William Easterly starts off his book with a plain-talk explanation of why GDP growth is so important: "We experts don't care about rising gross domestic product for its own sake. We care because it betters the lot of the poor and reduces the proportion of people who are poor. We care because richer people can eat more and buy more medicines for their babies." Here it is:
