A Conversation with Economist Paul Collier: The Bottom Billion

On June 26, 2007, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Simon Chair in Political Economy and Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project hosted a conversation with Oxford University professor and former World Bank economist Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can be Done About It, the book the New York Times is calling “the best book on international affairs so far this year.” Johanna Mendelson Forman, Senior Associate with the Office of the Chief of Staff, introduced Professor Collier, after which he spoke about the central points of The Bottom Billion. Professor Collier’s talk was followed by several rounds of questions.