An adventure story and an insight look at why foreign aid so often fails.

Selected as one of the six best nonfiction books of 1990 by the editors f the New York Times Book Review , this is a compelling and entertaining account of the authors two-and-a-half year adventure in Equatorial Guinea, and his efforts to get this small bankrupt African nation on the path of structural development.

Publisher:

Basic Books (AZ)

ISBN:

9780465087600

Publication date:

July 1991

Length:

232mm

Width:

151mm

Thickness:

17mm

Weight:

422g

Pages:

296

Illustrations:

index

Readership:

General; Tertiary education; Professional & scholarly

In 1985, Klitgaard (currently at the RAND Corporation) was sent by the World Bank as an economist-consultant to Equatorial Guinea, a tiny West African nation that's one of the world's poorest. In this engaging memoir - a mix of personal reminiscence and economic analysis - Klitgaard tells of his two-and-a-half-year struggle to rehabilitate the local economy. What Klitgaard discovered during his stay was lethargy, corruption, and adventurism, occasionally leavened with humor and good will. His analyses of the economic problems facing Equatorial Guinea - imports outstripping exports, lack of financial liquidity in banking institutions, scarcity of outside investment, exploitation by the ruling caste - are cogent and convincing; his suggested solutions - reduction of export taxes and debt payments through renegotiation, payment of debts by government officials, international publicity campaigns, agricultural cooperatives - make sense. In addition to writing of his efforts to revitalize the country's sagging cocoa industry, Klitgaard also discusses his work to foster human rights in the tribal-based society. In one moving segment, he tells the story of "Saturnino," a co-worker who was arrested and tortured by the government for unspecified crimes. Klitgaard was unswerving in his efforts to discover the fate of his friend, despite almost universal advice that he leave well enough atone. Eventually, after Saturnine was released, Klitgaard confronted the nation's president and was assured that henceforth human rights would be respected. On a lighter note, Klitgaard writes of searching the coastline for surfing sites, and of foiling the plans of local women bent on marrying the rich foreigner. Both as economic treatise and travel journal: an intriguing look at a little-known comer of the world. (Kirkus Reviews)