The Unassuming Economist

From a book review by Barry Eichengreen:

“Collier contemplates the fate of left-behind places, such as South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, devastated by the loss of its steel industry, and the Colombian city of Barranquilla, whose entrepot trade evaporated when its estuary silted up. In these cases and others, he blames centralized decision-making and blind faith in the market for failing to stem persistent decline. But he also highlights exceptions to the rule: left-behind places that rose from economic ruins. Examples include formerly depressed but now vibrant cities, such as Pittsburgh, and once stagnant but now relatively successful developing countries, such as Bangladesh and Rwanda. Keys to economic rejuvenation in these left-behind places are the devolution of decision-making powers to local and regional authorities, as well as having sufficient financial resources to implement the resulting bottom-up decisions. Collier reserves his harshest criticism for his own country, the United Kingdom, which has been singularly unsuccessful in lifting up neglected cities and regions.”