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Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding--And How We Can Improve the World Even More

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As the income gap between developed and developing nations grows, so grows the cacophony of voices claiming that the quest to find a simple recipe for economic growth has failed. Getting Better, in sharp contrast, reports the good news about global progress. Economist Charles Kenny argues against development naysayers by pointing to the evidence of widespread improvements in health, education, peace, liberty--and even happiness.Kenny shows how the spread of cheap technologies, such as vaccines and bed nets, and ideas, such as political rights, has transformed the world. He also shows that by understanding this transformation, we can make the world an even better place to live.That's not to say that life is grand for everyone, or that we don't have a long way to go. But improvements have spread far, and, according to Kenny, they can spread even further.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2011

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Charles Kenny

7 books6 followers

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5 stars
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71 (34%)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
51 reviews7 followers
July 14, 2013
Any book titled Getting Better will be unpopular with pessimists, apocalyptic cults and those anticipating the Rapture. Nonetheless, getting better the world is. Yes the world is not utopia, and in some cases things may be moving backward, but that does not undo the long term positive trends. Encouraging is the fact that in multiple ways of measuring human well-being other than GDP, even in the most desperate of countries, the long-term trends have been that people's lives are better. People are living longer, they are healthier, they are better educated, have more freedom and are less likely to die in war. (For those who want the details, read the book.)

Why this is so is unknown. The Right and Left have their theories and their solutions, but counterexamples to both abound. No matter the political and economic system, things are getting better. If you believe we live in the End Times and fear having your apocalyptic view challenged, then do not read this book. For the rest of us, hope and optimism seem justified.
Profile Image for Kaethe.
6,542 reviews523 followers
abandoned
February 4, 2023
04 February 2023

Five chapters in I became distracted by other books: all the requests at once. Kenny makes a strong case, and I find his research encouraging, but realistically I am unlikely to pick it back up. It's nice to know development works, and where it's most effective. Wouldn't it be cool if development were actually given out in an evidence-based way?

Library copy
Profile Image for Ben Thurley.
493 reviews29 followers
July 25, 2014
This is a great read, and an excellent argument for optimism in human development, generally, and the place of targeted aid specifically.

Despite counterclaims and hand wringing, things are getting better, everywhere. Rich countries may be getting richer faster than poor countries, and we may be unsure how to improve that situation, but poor countries and poor people aren’t stuck in the nightmare of an ever-growing and unsupportable population, living on bare subsistence. Instead, those countries with the lowest quality of life are making the fastest progress in improving it – across a range of measures including health, education, and civil and political liberties. The progress is the result of the global spread of technologies like vaccinations, and ideas like “you should send your daughter to school.” And Third World governments, alongside aid agencies and nonprofits, have played a vital role in extending the reach of these technologies and ideas.


It’s perhaps a little too techno-optimist, pays too little attention to questions of power and exclusion, and there are some lapses of empathy.

There is also only little discussion of ecological limits or climate change – though he argues that these pose great challenges to the sustainability of current economic models, and that free market mechanisms only offer uncertain pathways to sustainability.

However, there's so much to appreciate here. Clear-sighted recognition of the multi-dimensional nature of poverty – it is about more than just income. A willingness to acknowledge that we basically don't know what causes economic growth, and so can't rely on growth formulas to alleviate poverty. A moral clarity about not sacrificing people's wellbeing to purported goals of economic growth. A wonderful outline of the unprecedented progress the world has made against poverty's atrocities over the last few decades.

He also makes a very effective argument for the role of aid programs in supporting improved health and education, "The biggest success of development has not been making people richer but, rather, has been making the things that really matter – things like health and education – cheaper and more widely available."

Outstanding.

Profile Image for Lillian.
148 reviews
January 27, 2012
I read this book with my book club, and the overall consensus was: "Good points, poorly written."

I'd suggest reading an article about it, or reading the first and last chapters.
Profile Image for John Calia.
Author 4 books194 followers
June 13, 2023
Charles Kenney’s 200-page essay presents a theory backed by data that flies in the face of conventional wisdom regarding international development efforts. Noting that most international bodies and NGOs cite GDP per capita as the primary indicator of progress, he pointedly reveals that real measures of well-being are independent of financial measures.

His data suggests that countries that have focused on healthcare and education are more likely to thrive even when other factors are disparate. Using such metrics as infant mortality and life expectancy, he points out that every region in the world has improved during this century. It doesn’t matter if the economic system is capitalist or socialist. Nor if the country is in Asia, Africa, or South America. Nations that have successfully implemented processes that deliver better infrastructure, healthcare, and education have improved on those quality-of-life measures when compared to those who have not taken those steps.

While the theorem seems to be demonstrably correct, the policies that should be pursued are given short shrift. I was disappointed that there was no mention of the source of the improved processes, technologies, and policies.
Profile Image for Occhionelcielo.
120 reviews43 followers
December 16, 2017
Qui e oggi (Italia, post crisi 2008) le nostre certezze più radicate tremano dalle fondamenta: il lavoro, le aziende, le banche, la borsa, i bot, il mattone, e poi la società, la politica, la chiesa, pure il calcio, per non parlare della terra.
Proprio per questo si sente il bisogno di qualcuno che, con rigore e cognizione di causa, provi ad allargare l'orizzonte e ci spieghi che questi anni saranno ricordati come l'epoca in cui gran parte dell'umanità riuscirà a soddisfare quei pochi bisogni veramente importanti.
L'effetto, volutamente o no, è consolatorio: ce n'è bisogno.
Profile Image for Matt.
92 reviews5 followers
March 24, 2015
This tome covers the success story of global development over the last century. Kenny argues that quality of life measures between developing and developed countries have been converging even while GDP per capita has diverged. In his words, “globally, rates of absolute income poverty have fallen dramatically even as populations have grown. Every region has escaped the Malthusian trap. And in every region more children are being educated, people are living longer, and liberties have expanded.” The unsung successes of aid have been: the expansion of vaccines, higher literacy rates, higher caloric consumption, and better access to new technologies on a worldwide scale. This contrasts with the dystopian worldview often painted by disaster obsessed media outlets. The author cautions humility by rich world countries when it comes to choosing aid programs; economists have been fairly stagnant in proving any model of growth over the history of the field. He advocates a “first do no harm” method of thinking about aid and seems onboard with the idea of randomized controlled trials in testing development programs. I recommend this for anyone interested in economic development or anyone needing a boost of optimism about the state of the world.
Profile Image for Stefan.
86 reviews6 followers
April 15, 2016
Having finished the book, I am still unsure what exactly to think of it. The premise is interesting and gives a different view on the question of development, predominantly in Africa. The general theme is that development in Africa has not failed, quite the contrary. When not taking GDP per capita into account as a tool of measurement, Africa has seen spectacular improvement. The main indicators that Kenny looks at are levels of education (i.e. literacy), healthcare (i.e. life expectancy and child mortality) and social and democratic rights.
This is also more or less where the book ends. He is very unclear in his organisation and more or less parades the same principles in every chapter. Some methods of looking at these issues (dissemination of technology as a tool or Western development aid) pop up in multiple chapters, some do not. In short, his ordering of arguments is quite unclear and unprofessional, which is somewhat strange, given the amount of research that obviously went into it. I veered towards given three stars, but the incoherence and repetition made me go for two.
Profile Image for Jonathan Jacobs.
7 reviews25 followers
July 25, 2013
While I appreciated the central thesis (don't look at GDP/capita or income as markers of development, but metrics like education rates and quality of life), this book could have been condensed into a small pamphlet. A slog of a read that makes the same set of points in nearly every chapter.
Profile Image for Adrian Fanaca.
188 reviews
February 4, 2023
I understand that the world is getting better, and many statistics in this book prove that even the poor are having a much better life than five decades ago. Without trying to make the apotheosis of capitalism, this book proves to get the hope we all needed that we're actually on the great path forward, and this is not thanks solely to capitalism. Actually, income doesn't have much to do with health and life expectancy, as this book greatly proves, but somehow with some technologies' spillovers to the rest of the world, which eradicated deadly diseases in many parts of the poor world as well as everywhere in the developed world. Great reading
Profile Image for Monique.
20 reviews3 followers
July 19, 2020
Although many of the topics and examples discussed were already familiar to me, it was nice to read an optimistic view on global development.

However, "The good news, once again (...)" -Kenny almost says it himself: unfortunately the book feels rather repetitive. It turned out to be less the quick, pleasant read than I expected it to be when I started reading.

I did enjoy the occasional snark and sarcasm.
Profile Image for Ethan Nguyen.
92 reviews6 followers
November 22, 2020
Contrary to common belief, we have actually made serious progress toward improving quality of life on a global level. This becomes clearer when we accurately measure development not by income growth but by quality of life improvements. Therefore, even if we do not understand how to foster income growth, we can still improve the world by supporting programs that develop quality of life.

Profile Image for Keith.
846 reviews37 followers
December 25, 2017
This is moderately interesting, but I lost the point of it many times while reading it. It is a bit more in the weeds than I prefer.
Profile Image for Richard.
1,186 reviews1,124 followers
Want to read
October 17, 2015
Contrarian arguments can be fascinating. This author was briefly mentioned in the New York Times' 2010 year-end “10th Annual Year in Ideas”, which also linked to his article in Foreign Policy from a few months ago: Best. Decade. Ever.: The first 10 years of the 21st century were humanity’s finest — even for the world's bottom billion.

I don’t doubt that he’s correct. In a similar vein, Steven Pinker presented an argument on the myth of violence at TEDtalks in 2007 (see the 19-minute video). I’ve read quite a bit on how our brains aren’t quite as rational as we prefer to think they are, and several of those cognitive biases lead us to focus more on negative things and remember them better; the “infotainment” shows we turn to for “news” operate on the if it bleeds, it leads tactic, which further reinforces our beliefs that things are nasty.

Kenny alludes to this in his essay’s opening paragraph: “Given that our brains seem hard-wired to remember singular tragedy over incremental success, it's a hard sell to convince anyone that the past 10 years are worthy of praise.”

I still think the hurdles we’re facing in the next century give plenty of reasons to be pessimistic, but Kenny shrugs at the problems of climate change (“Stopping climate change has been a slower process. Nonetheless, in 2008, the G-8 did commit to halving carbon emissions by 2050.” Yeah, like that’s going to happen. ) We’ll have to see whether his book tackles these tougher issues.


Left, G.D.P. Per Capita (Adjusted to 2005 dollars).
                Right, World Cereal Yield (Kilograms per hectare).

[I haven’t read it yet, but Kenny has an overview of his book on his blog, here]
­
Profile Image for Meepspeeps.
786 reviews
August 2, 2012
I slogged through the early chapters, chuckling at "we should sterilize the world's billionaires first, then move to a one-child policy for Switzerland, Luxembourg and the USA," i.e. reduce over-consuming populations. Ch. 8 and 9 have some merit including "development is not just about giving people what they want; it's also about getting them to want what they need." He distracted me by referring to Niger when he meant Mali, and pontificating about global warming. While I think quality of life outcomes are valuable, he did not succeed in making the case to me about allocating development $ effectively.
2 reviews
Want to read
May 11, 2011
Recommended by Bill Gates
Profile Image for Morgan.
175 reviews2 followers
Want to read
May 11, 2011
recommended by bill gates...good enough for me!
2 reviews1 follower
May 1, 2014
A very data-driven analysis of what has been shown to work and not work in global development. It can bogged down in numbers a bit but glad I read it.
1,219 reviews2 followers
October 30, 2016
A dry but informative and educational read that tackles the roles health, education, and technology play in income inequality and how best to administrate foreign aid.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

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