Countries that ignite a process of rapid economic growth almost always do so while lacking what experts say are the essential preconditions for development, such as good infrastructure and institutions. In Beating the Odds, two of the world’s leading development economists begin with this paradox to explain what is wrong with mainstream development thinking—and to offer a practical blueprint for moving poor countries out of the low-income trap regardless of their circumstances.
Awards and Recognition
- Shortlisted for the 2018 Africa-Asia ICAS Book Prize, International Convention of Asia Scholars and Association for Asian Studies in Africa
Justin Yifu Lin, former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, is director of the Center for New Structural Economics and dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development at Peking University. Célestin Monga is vice president and chief economist of the African Development Bank and visiting professor of economics at University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Peking University.
"After the failure of Washington Consensus economic policies, Justin Yifu Lin and Célestin Monga draw on examples of successful economic development from all over the world to show us the way forward. Rather than focus on austerity and painful 'reform' programs, Lin and Monga demonstrate that there is a role for government, industrial policy, and other measures that help business grow and create jobs. They forcefully show that another world is possible."—Joseph E. Stiglitz, Columbia University, Nobel Laureate in Economics
"Justin Yifu Lin and Célestin Monga draw on long experience and insightful analysis to show how successful economic development depends, first and foremost, on a pragmatic assessment of each nation's comparative advantages and a realistic understanding of how they can change over time."—Roger Myerson, University of Chicago, Nobel Laureate in Economics
"An instructive look at how countries have to start growing before the right institutional framework is in place, and how they can get around that. . . . One of the better books on developing economies in the last few years."—Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
