Book Review: The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can be Done About it

While over a billion people live in extreme poverty, defined, as living on less than $1 a day, celebrity and governments’ mobilization in collecting money for the poorest has become more a matter of fashion than effective and goal-oriented action. Collier identifies about fifty-eight failing states that constitute this bottom billion, whose problems defy traditional approaches towards poverty reduction. The author uses comparative analysis and quantitative methodology in explaining why there is no improvement for some of the poorest countries in the world, such as those in Africa, yet other countries, such as India and China, have managed to move from being underdeveloped to developing.