Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose Paperback – August 1, 2023

Fantastic book. Beautifully written and easy to consume despite the complex subject matter. Highly recommend. A book that comes from the heart (also mind I suppose) from one of the most distinguished development economists of our time.

Great book. As a student of politics, I subscribe wholesale to the author’s thesis (and emphasis) on the importance of political economy.

I love the message of Why Nations Fail but (as the authors are the first to say) the policy prescription feels like "try not to have highly concentrated wealth and power 300 years ago."That's what's so helpful & important about Stefan Dercon's new book. One of the best lines in the book: In thinking about improving country ownership of development plans, we have to ask who owns the country.This is one of the few big books on development that starts with the observation that most human societies are controlled by a tiny elite.This has been true of every human society for all of history—even the ones that are rich & free today—and so the key question of development is when and how some elite groups find it in their interest to encourage economic growth, or the country develops in spite of them.Why Nations Fail brilliantly tells us how that happened in the distant past. Dercon charts out how it's happened in the last few decades & the prospects for the next few. He brings the poli sci literature together with the economic & adds his unique first-person view as a diplomat for the UK.

Gambling on Development has been one of the best books I've read this year. Even though it mainly focuses on the personal experience of the author while working with many of the governments of the countries he references, I found interesting his explanation of why some of them improve while others do not. I think it is a good complement to institutional explanations on development, particularly the one espoused by North, Wallis and Weingast (2009) about 'limited-access orders'.

I hoped to learn some new perspectives from this book. But in my opinion this book is not well written.1. To me, very scattered. Just like that space was filled up with many things (you could imagine something like government reports or international organization's reports) Was the author too busy or rushing? I think, this could have been much better structured, trimming unnecessary things (e.g., too many numbers, unnecessary previous trajectories. If these are included, it needs to be better organized. We're not here to get these numbers/facts. Wikipedia write these things much better)2. Most importantly, what is the message that wanted to be conveyed? What is the development bargain? Where did he clearly define (and elaborate) this key term of the book? To me, the development bargain is no more than the importance of elites (politicians and high-rank government officials), the politics among them, and their rent seeking. Their importance is not surprising but very obvious (which is fine), but the problem of this book is that he did not organize facts and narratives about the bargain to the extent that he could deliver (clear) messages. To me, there are no messages but just scattered narratives and facts about bargaining. If clear messages were hard, it would have been much better if those narratives are more personal so more engaging. The narratives in the book are not personal but more like listing up short facts. These types of narratives could be seen from news and magazines.I wish that the author, who is an accomplished scholar and policy advisor, could have written at a much higher level. This current book is no more than a report written by a fresh graduate from a master degree who was firsthand exposed to developing countries. I am sorry but frustrated.

Superficial.Elite bargain is an empty explanation. Is there nit an elite bargain everywhere from Russia to US.And what has an aid worker traveling in aid finds learnt excite an empty concept like elite bargain.Fails the Popper test if falsifiability.Thus can only happen on aid funds.

If you want to understand what truly drives development this is the book for you. It's written in an accessible, fun, way and is packed with anecdotes, stories and data but make no mistake: it is a serious piece of work. Dercon lays out his thesis of why some places develop while others languish, and how trajectories change. He also has something to say about what outsiders can do, and the pretty severe limits to this.It could only have been written by him. He combines real pedigree as an academic economist, a Professor at the University of Oxford and the Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, with more than a decade as the most senior technocrat in one of the largest aid agencies in the world. He knows better than most both what progress has been made and the relatively humble role played by aid and donors.A must read.

It is not a surprise for people that have already read some of the articles of the author. A committed economist. I like the way the author qualified and addressed the economic development problem faced by African countries. Of course, and I strongly agree with him that the core issue is the lack of serious and sustainable political and economic bargain. They are just hippo states unfortunately, they cannot deliver neither stability nor economic and social development. The reigning system is just for the bellies and families interests. And, this is absolutely disastrous when looking at France colonized countries. I place a great hope, as the author, that changes will be possible in some hippo countries. I am from west Africa, France colonized country, and I it would great if this book is read by AES’s presidents. Thank you Professor Dercon for this phenomenal book.

Excellent review of literature in the area an interesting and thought provoking read

Annoying self-centered writing. Few hard numbers. A very disappointing book