Left Behind
A New Economics for Neglected Places
Published on 12. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-14-198411-7 (ISBN)
Description
A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2024
The world-renowned economist offers a ground-breaking new vision for inclusive prosperity
Left behind places can be found in prosperous countries-from South Yorkshire, integral to the industrial revolution and now England's poorest county, to Barranquilla, once Colombia's portal to the Caribbean and now struggling. More alarmingly, the poorest countries in the world are diverging further from the rest of humanity than they were at the start of this century. Why have these places fallen behind? And what can we do about it?
World-renowned development economist Paul Collier has spent his life working in neglected communities. In this book he offers his candid diagnosis of why some regions and countries are failing, and a new vision for how they can catch up. Collier lays the blame for widening inequality on stale economic orthodoxies that prioritize market forces to revive left behind regions, and on the arrogant, hands-off and one-size fits all approach of centralized bureaucracies like the UK Treasury. As a result, Collier argues, the UK has become the most unequal and unfair society in the western world.
Yet the core message of Left Behind is hopeful: bringing together encouraging case studies of recovery from around the world, Collier shows how renewal is achievable through a combination of collective learning, moral leadership and local agency. With keen insight, he draws lessons from such seemingly disparate fields as behavioural psychology, evolutionary biology and moral philosophy to share a bold, galvanizing vision for a more inclusive, prosperous world.
The world-renowned economist offers a ground-breaking new vision for inclusive prosperity
Left behind places can be found in prosperous countries-from South Yorkshire, integral to the industrial revolution and now England's poorest county, to Barranquilla, once Colombia's portal to the Caribbean and now struggling. More alarmingly, the poorest countries in the world are diverging further from the rest of humanity than they were at the start of this century. Why have these places fallen behind? And what can we do about it?
World-renowned development economist Paul Collier has spent his life working in neglected communities. In this book he offers his candid diagnosis of why some regions and countries are failing, and a new vision for how they can catch up. Collier lays the blame for widening inequality on stale economic orthodoxies that prioritize market forces to revive left behind regions, and on the arrogant, hands-off and one-size fits all approach of centralized bureaucracies like the UK Treasury. As a result, Collier argues, the UK has become the most unequal and unfair society in the western world.
Yet the core message of Left Behind is hopeful: bringing together encouraging case studies of recovery from around the world, Collier shows how renewal is achievable through a combination of collective learning, moral leadership and local agency. With keen insight, he draws lessons from such seemingly disparate fields as behavioural psychology, evolutionary biology and moral philosophy to share a bold, galvanizing vision for a more inclusive, prosperous world.
Reviews / Votes
Left Behind is full of good ideas... stimulating, a call to heal the divisions in our societies by bringing justice to the left behind. It should be essential reading for the new Labour Cabinet -- Jason Cowley * The Sunday Times * Paul Collier shows how centralized authority and economic orthodoxy have hollowed out communities and deepened the divide between prosperous and neglected places. Ranging across politics, economics, and moral philosophy, he offers a compelling vision for renewal. This tour de force book points the way to a political economy of shared prosperity and common purpose' -- Michael J. Sandel, author of THE TYRANNY OF MERIT Being left behind is a curse on people, places, and even whole countries. Paul Collier brings his astonishing range of global experiences and interdisciplinary knowledge to forge a guidebook for catching up. He challenges the belief that the market is a trustworthy remedy and catalogues the many collective strategies that have worked in the past and can work again. Great wisdom lies herein -- Angus Deaton, Nobel Laureate for Economic Sciences Paul Collier has written another brilliant, must-read book for anyone interested in human progress. I greatly enjoyed this book, you will too -- Baroness Dambisa Moyo, author of DEAD AID Brilliant, orthodoxy-upending ... this book is a compelling and practical manifesto for a better future. It is not only required reading but demands action -- Andy Haldane, CEO of the RSA Left Behind is a tour de force. Challenging economic orthodoxies and the "one size fits all" solution of market forces, Paul Collier presents us with a fascinating analysis of marginalized communities in rich and poor countries and how they got that way. More importantly, he tells us how they can lift themselves out of poverty and into prosperity through sound leadership and agency following a bottom-up approach. Reading the book left me with a sense of optimism and hope that those who get left behind need not stay that way -- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization A wide-ranging account of why societies have gone so badly wrong in the early 21st century by emphasizing individualism, and an ambitious - but essential - agenda for tackling some of the problems -- Professor Diane Coyle, author of GDP: A BRIEF BUT AFFECTIONATE HISTORY The misleading biology of "Selfish Genes" seemingly vindicated the dash to gross inequality. Collier's book reveals the extent of that damage in a wide variety of countries, and the many ways in which it may be fixed -- Denis Noble FRS A MUST READ reminding all of us to hold onto hope, chronicling stories of communities that are progressing against the odds -- Sylvana Quader Sinha, Member of the Council on Foreign Relations In this brilliant, passionate, angry book, Paul Collier makes a completely convincing case for hope. Drawing on a wide range of persuasive case studies from across the world Collier shows that with appropriate support left behind places can "spiral up" - rebuilding their communities and their economies through respect, hard work and good governance. In the process he draws on the latest research to show us what good states look like and how they operate. A manual for the future for all of us. -- Rebecca Henderson, John and Natty McArthur University Professor, Harvard UniversityMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
226 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-198411-7 (9780141984117)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2024
Penguin Books Ltd
€10.99
Available for download
Person
Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government. He is the author of The Future of Capitalism (Handesblatt Prize) and The Bottom Billion (Arthur Ross Prize) both widely translated. He works with governments and communities around the world. A communitarian, he was awarded the Adam Smith Prize by Glasgow's Philosophical Society (2023) and the Global Citizenship Award by Belgium's cooperative movement (2018).