Ep. 58 William Easterly Ph.D. : Poverty, Technocracy, and the Tyranny of Experts

About this episode

In this episode, Michael Matheson Miller interviews William Easterly about the challenges of development economics and the impact of technocracy on the poor.

Photo Credit: Tyler Follon - Wingman Visuals In this episode of the Moral Imagination Podcast, I speak with Professor William Easterly of New York University about his work in development economics, and the problems of technocracy and social engineering of the poor. Easterly worked at the World Bank from 1985-2001 and began to be troubled by a number of things, including how aid is given without much concern about how it is distributed and managed thus subsidizing bad governance and harming the poor. We discuss Peter Bauer’s critique of how foreign aid politicizes development and delayed the development of business in Africa, and Bauer’s paradox of aid: * The countries that need aid — aid will not be effective * The countries where aid will be effective — do not need aid But the key problem with the dominant model of development is not simply a lack of efficiency, but the failure to respect the rights and agency of poor people. Easterly explains that development projects often result in people being deprived of their property, political rights, and participation and consent in the very projects that are supposed to help them. He discussed the tendency to to trivialize problems in…

People in this episode

Host: Michael Matheson Miller

Guest: William Easterly

Topics covered

• development economics
• technocracy
• foreign aid
• poverty
• social engineering
• rights and agency of poor people

Keywords

• poverty
• technocracy
• foreign aid
• development
• social engineering
• property rights
• political rights

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New York University, World Bank

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