Question

Watch the TED Talk below from the author of the The Bottom Billion: "Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It"?

Answer 1

Global poverty has been declining for decades, but a few countries are declining behind and falling apart, trapped in four distinct traps (such as the resource curse). Aid is not working well in these areas but there are things that we can and should do as negligence would present a safety nightmare for our children's future.

In the lowest billion nations, 73 per cent of people are in a civil war or have recently been through one. Civil war decreases revenue, and low income raises civil war risk. Low income means misery and low growth means hopelessness and the young men who are available. The State is weak when the economy is weak and revolt is easier. Rebel movements sometimes get finance from resource exporters in return for future deals.

A civil war raises the likelihood of another civil war. Civil war is in reverse evolution. Both economic and disease losses are extremely persistent: they do not end until the fighting is over. Constitutional privileges are generally further exacerbated. A revolt is an incredibly untrustworthy way to bring about social change. Rebellion foot soldiers often have no option to join the rebel movement Slowly the rebel group's composition would change from idealists to opportunists and sadists. The young, the uneducated and those without dependents are the kind of people most likely to participate in political abuse.

Autocracies generate far more development in the presence of significant surpluses from the natural resources than democracies do. Leaders prefer to embezzle funds when there's plenty of money, spend on big, pet projects and buy votes through contracts. The corrupt win the polls. Resources that the need for taxes, undermine public oversight, erode checks and balances, and leave unconstrained political competition where the parties fight for patronage votes. Alternatively, constraints elevate investment returns.

It's geography that matters. Landlocked countries have to export to neighboring countries or to the coast through their infrastructures. Uganda is poor and Switzerland is wealthy, since it relies on its neighbours. All countries benefit from neighborhood development but resource-scarce landlocked countries must rely on their neighbors to rise. This includes about Africa's 30 per cent. The leaders of many of the world's poorest countries are amongst the global superrich themselves. And they want it. Many of these are pure villains. But beyond villainy, there is a lack of people with the requisite expertise, the opposition overwhelms courageous reformers, and there is often little public support for reforms.