Collier loves his research. He also loves the research of people who have studied under him. Finally, he loves the research of people he works with.

While I have no doubt that his research has produced some fruitful insights into poverty, I don't think his book is the amazing must-read development book of the year - or even a book really worth reading. Here's the nutshell version, that will save you some money:

The bottom billion people out there (part of a number of countries Collier won't name because he doesn't want to make things worse) have it bad. Really bad. They're not likely to get better anytime soon for a lot of reasons. Throwing money at the problem won't necessarily solve it. We need to have a concerted effort to bring up their neighbors and drag the bottom billion along with them.

There. I said it in what, 100 words? Collier, I admire your ability to wax poetic about research papers, but it's not necessary to refer back to your research thousands of times in such a direct manner. I blame your editor, mostly.

I saw Paul Collier's talk via TED website. Watch that for a 20 minute preview of this book.

He nonchalantly reveals that aid for developing countries is too often a myth by revealing the conflict of interest that comes with each package.

He has a way of making mind-blowing statements that make you realise that he's only stating the obvious about democracy, politics, development and free-trade.

The world would be a much better place if the evangelists for democracy would simply keep in mind some simple principles about good governance and the balance of powers between legislation, administration and judiciary.

This book is very general. The generalizations go too far at times. However, it is very informative and provides a very basic outline of the poorest of poor nations and the 'traps' that make them unable to progress. It is great for someone who is unfamiliar with these issues, providing background information. Collier presents a lot of facts and figures for things that are not very quantifiable. However, he explains how and where his data come from, his sources are all reputable, and his assumptions are based on serious research and knowledge. I think this is great for someone new to the subject. Although he provides ballpark figures that may be very inaccurate in a given situation, these figures are helpful for someone who couldn't even guess otherwise.

The Bottom Billion
By
Paul Collier

Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University. Former director of Development Research at the World Bank and advisor to the British government's Commission on Africa, he is one of the world's leading experts on African economies, and he has penned a comprehensive book on ways to lift the billion or so people living in failed or failing states into the 21st century.

Collier points out why this is important to us not just to the billion people who are living and dying in 14th Century conditions. With globalization and the flattening of the world the twenty first century world of material comfort, global travel, and economic interdependence will become increasingly vulnerable to these failed or failing states of chaos. As the bottom billion diverges from in increasingly sophisticated world economy, integration will become harder, not easier.

This book focuses on the 4 traps that keep the bottom countries from moving upward. These traps are: the conflict trap, the natural resources trap, the trap of being land locked with bad neighbors, and the trap of bad governance in a small country. Collier believes the best way to beat these traps is through economic growth. Collier provides a couple of recommendations for helping the poor: "narrow the target and broaden the instruments." Narrowing the target means focusing on the one billion of the world's people (70% of whom are in Africa) that are going nowhere fast. Broadening the instruments means shifting focus from aid to an arsenal of policy instruments such as better delivery of aid, occasional military intervention, international charters, and smarter trade policy.

Collier uses statistical analysis to prove many of his points, some of which are surprising in their outcomes. His list of experts who assisted him in this endeavor contributes immensely to the overall analysis and findings and gives the reader the impression that there is valid credibility in his work and findings. The best part of the book concerns Colliers thoughts on Globalization. Collier believes Globalization's effects on economies comes from three distinct process: trade in goods, flows of capital, and lastly the migration of people. Collier develops these themes and sheds some interesting light on the problems of the underdeveloped nations of the world.

Although Collier does not use foot notes, he does provide a list of research that contributed to this book. Collier also points out which research projects have undergone the scrutiny of his peers, and which research has not and leaves it up to the reader to decide on the validity.

The Bottom Billion is a very readable book, 192 pages, and provides the reader with some expert analysis and recommendations for assisting the failing nations of the world. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a comprehensive look at why states fail and how to assist them in their efforts to grow.

Collier's book summaries his findings of years in research on state failure and poverty. In the Bottom Billion he offers three main points. First, the development problem of the world should focus on the poorest billion people and not all developing countries. Second, bottom billion societies struggle with two moral extremes: Those trying to do good and powerful groups that oppose them. Third, rich countries do not need to be bystanders in this struggle.
Collier found four basic reasons or traps of failed economies which result in poverty. The four traps are conflict, natural resource abundance, landlocked with bad neighbors, and bad governance. The natural resource abundance as a poverty trap is counterintuitive, but Collier explains the economic concept of Dutch disease, and how resources can discourage a country's chances of diversifying exports.
His research gives a mixed report card for aid. Foreign humanitarian aid, like a natural resource windfall, can give deleterious results, according to Collier, if it is handed to governments without strict stipulations. He sited how some foreign aid has been linked to arms purchases which encourage conflict. He also gave an example of how USAID was unduly influenced by congressional commercial lobbies so that Congress diverted spending that benefited particular American exporters, unrelated to the needs of recipients.
Collier advocates for the prudent use of foreign military intervention to facilitate turn-around and growth. He is critical of some countries' unwillingness to commit troops to foreign conflicts, "that is what modern armies are for: to supply the global public good of peace in territories that otherwise have the potential for nightmare" (p. 125). Collier admits this paradigm may face unpopularity due to Iraq, but he highlights the British Army's success in Sierra Leone as an example of prudent intervention.
There are other instruments of power rich countries can wield to decrease poverty, according to Collier. He recommends evening the playing field in trade by removing tariffs from bottom billion countries while keeping current tariffs on Asian exporters. Collier explains this policy is not about what is fair or just, but about pulling marginalized countries aboard.
For any student of economics, public policy, international politics, or third world development this book should be mandatory reading. While you may not agree with everything he says, he at least has research to back it up. If you disagree, the challenge before you is to do the research yourself. There are a billion examples for you to study.

1. The content is substantive and occasionally provocative, but the writing's off-putting - didactic, repetitive, pedantic, occasionally patronizing - and altogether too much devoted to the personal pronoun.
2. On second thought - after reading the 1st 98 pages - I realized it was not written for me. It's written for people at government aid agencies, NGO's, World Bank, OECD, etc. who may be well-intentioned but who lack common sense about how the world works - foolish or clueless do-gooders. This book should be sub-titled "HELPING OTHERS FOR DUMMIES".

surpasses older books on the subject; a fluid easy read yet not superficial; combines a compassionate belief that we ought to help those in extreme poverty with a critical analysis of the failings of current development aid.

This book gives great insight on how complex nations really are and that there is a soulution for every problem. Terrific reading.

This book summarizes a career's worth of research in a format that both explains issues and makes suggestions in a way that does not require economics jargon translation. It is the best work I've seen that describes the effect of individual and combined local and world factors on the plight of the 'bottom Billion" mainly in land locked African nations. Without assigning blame Collier recounts the history, economic, geographic, social and leadership factors that trap these nations and make those of us committed to helping them so perplexed about why aid has not worked. He offers suggestions for growth that leave some room for optimism. What raises the work above well written editorial to convincing evidence is that Colliers's writings and suggestions are based upon consolidation of research results (that he briefly cites at the end of the work) over a long period covering the measured influence of many factors . Besides the pithy and well drawn content the writing is clear , straightforward and entertaining making it enjoyable to read.

I really enjoyed this book. Paul Collier has taken what is a very complex issue and presented it in a concise view of the situation of the "Bottom Billion" which many of us do not really understand. Collier and his colleagues have done an enormous amount of research and analysis and have distilled that into a compelling read for anyone who worries about what's happening to our world.

To me, the book shed light on the difficulty faced by the "Bottom Billion" and how, with the best of intentions, Aid organisations, the World Bank, IMF, European Union, USA, regional bodies etc can still not achieve an improvement in the lives of these people. Coordination is the key, and that is far easier said than done - and I am just wondering how the author is working to get this "Bottom Billion" discussion tabled. It would be great to follow any progress made - and I hope, for the sake of a billion lives, there is progress.

What do we do with them?

Prof. Collier of Oxford University, has done years of research, publishing, conferences, on this topic. Yet, one-size- fit-all solution never came up.

With civil war, ethnic conflict, fighting for natural resources, bad governance, bad neighbors, military power, aids from G8, law, trade policy issues, one would think that the solution is not possible.

What is needed is to have a strong and capable leadership at the top. With a strong leader, the country can change.

We need to focus on a group of countries at a time. G8 countries are drilling oil, gas, and minerals in Africa now. China recently sent 500,000 to Africa to build highway, bridges, telephone systems, etc.
It is possible to accomplish.

But this book does not include any of the African success stories.
Everyone knows the problem. But the solution is the most important for the bottom billions.

I love books like this. I am not a development expert not involved in international business nor government. Just a average middle class guy who tries to think beyond the bounds of my little world.

Can't argue whether anything he put on these pages is wrong or right. It's engaging writing and I often found myself pausing to ponder some point Collier makes. All-in-all, a great read.

One additional note: The first chapter is very wonkish...lots of statistics and figures. It may put you off and keep you from reading further....if so just skip to Chapter 3. You can still get the gist of Collier's argument.

Collier is a serious scholar in the world of development and here he has written a very important book. Here is the basic argument - while it sucks to be poor in countries like India, India is heading for relative prosperity. Where is really, really sucks to be poor is in a number of countries, concentrated in Africa where there is little hope of breaking out of a cycle of severe poverty. Collier pinpoints four ways in which these countries stay at the bottom - (1) they are racked by civil wars; (2) they're rich in a specific natural resource which stifles economic group in other areas; (3) they are surrounded by awful neighbors; and/or (4) they are a small country which is consistently horrifically governed. Collier proposes a number of concrete steps to deal with some of these problems, steps which I find to be realistic if perhaps politically unlikely at times. For example, Collier is totally in support of military intervention, of course he thinks there is a right way and wrong way to do it, but still, you're not hearing Jeff Sachs talk about sending in guns to cure poverty and with the disaster that has been the Iraq war, I think it will be a long time before the developed world is interested in dangerous humanitarian missions.

This is the book of a man who has spent a long time in world of bureaucracies whose mandate is to fight poverty, and some of Collier's ideas are a bit gun-ho in reaction to what he rightly thinks is a lack of will power from the developed world. I don't think all of his ideas are good ones, and many of them I think are unlikely given the developed world's current lack of commitment to fighting poverty, but if you have any interest in development and poverty reduction you have to read this book.