Matt Kates' End of Poverty Post

Matt's post discussed a book about the poverty situation in much of Africa and other less developed countries of the world. I read a book about that same subject entitled "The White Man's Burden." Altough both book talked about similiar subjects, the author in The White Man's Burden, William Easterly came to almost the exact opposite conclusion as Jeffrey Sach. In fact, he said the only way we have currently tried to aid Africa is through top down approaches, and we (the western world) have spent over 2 trillion dollars, yet the economic situation has not improved. He was much more in favor of bottom up approaches. Although these approaches do not promise to end world hunger or poverty, they are much more effective. People actually go into towns or villages to determine what it is the village best needs, instead of applying broad measures that most likely will not mesh with their culture and economic situation. As you can see, I am more in agreement with Easterly. To get more of an idea of what Sach's thesis was, check out Matt Kates' post.