William Easterly's Challenge to the Development Community

William Easterly is not only widely known as one of the world’s most eminent development economists, but also as a forceful opponent of the way in which the West tries to promote growth in developing countries. In particular, Easterly has characterised the way foreign aid is designed and projects are implemented as a ‘tyranny of experts’. In his Hayek lecture, Easterly continues to expound his critique of the way most donors and practitioners think about development. His main argument, backed by several telling examples, is that the rights, opinions and insights of poor people are ignored. Instead, donor agencies and the development community in general view problems and challenges in developing countries as purely technical problems. They therefore call for technical solutions that are much easier to implement with the help of dictatorial regimes and with disregard for the rights of ordinary people in the developing world.