THE TYRANNY OF svt EXPERTS ‘The White Mans Burden ‘The Elusive Quest for Growth ECONOMISTS, DICTATORS, and the FORGOTTEN RIGHTS of the POOR WILLIAM EASTERLY Toe ert Gc ‘shen’ Jeet aii deo Anis BASIC BOOKS A Memb ofthe Perea Bas GrupCuarrex Oxt INTRODUCTION ‘The farmers in Wood County in rural northwest Ohio never saw it coming, The soldiers had arived on the morning of Sunday, February 2, 2010, while the farmers were in church. Heating gunshots, the farmers hhad rushed to thei houses, which by then were already immersed in ‘lames. While some soldiers kept the farmers at gunpoint fom rescuing thelr homes, others poured gasoline over the recent grain harvest in the barns and burned that as well. One eight-year-old child was trapped and died in the fire The dary cows were dispatched more quickly and ‘humanely with « bust of machine-gun fire. Then the soldiers marched the more than 20,000 farmers away at rlepoint. Never come back, they ‘were told the land ie na longer yous, ‘The farmers, many of whose homesteads had been in their failes for generations, were unhappy to learn that a British company was taking ‘thelr land with the help of the soldiers. "The company was going to grow forests and then sell the timber. The farmers were even more distressed fo learn that the World Bank, an official international organization combating global poverty had financed and promoted the projet by the ‘Brltsh company. The World Bank isnot subjetto Ohio or United States law or courts, "The farmers might have hoped that publicity would help them, And Jndeed,a yea later a British human-rights organization, Oxfam, published «report on what had happened in Wood County in February 2010, The [New York Times ran a story on the report on September 21,2011. The ‘World Bank the next day promised an investigation, That investigation has never happened.4 The Tranny of Experts As ofthis writing, ow past the fourth anniversary of the tragedy, the ‘whole event bas been forgotten by almost everyone except the victims, “The farmers could only wonder why nobody seemed tocar. ‘Tue Ricurs ov rHE Ric AND PooR 1s this story relly true? It is true except for one geographic dtal—the ‘rents didnot occur in Wood County, Ohi; they occurred in Mubende District, Ugands, The World Bank had promoted the forestry project thereto rise incomes, but those whose rights the Bank had overlooked ‘would not be among the beneficiaries” Is inconceivable thatthe story above could have oceuered in Ohio, If it had, there would have been an outery that produced justice for the victims and punishment for the perpetrators, "When ThomesJeferson wrote the world's most famous statement of political ideals in 1776, he listed outrages of the king of England aguinst his American subjects: “He has plundered our eas, ravaged our Coasts, bbumt our towns, and destroyed the ives of our people.” The fllowing ‘wards were meant 1 prevent such outrages: ‘Weold thse truths to be sel cldent, tha all men are created equal, that they ar endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Lif, Liberty an the pursuit of Happiness That to secue these rights, Governments ae nsttted among Men, deriving ‘hei just powers from the consent of the governed Similar ideals would be repeated in other Western nations. For example, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, approved by the ‘revolutionary French National Assembly on August 26 1789, almed tose forth in solemn declaration the natural unalienable, and sacred rights ofan... Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Liberty const inthe feedom to do everything which injures no one ke. Introduction s ‘These aspirations for freedom were those of poor people. The French in 1789 and Americans in 1776 were at an average income pee person ‘oughly similar to that of Africans today. The World Bank is based in ‘the West and has many managers ad staff who personally shat ream. But the World Bank does not articulate such a dream for the ‘world they cover, the world tht at various times has been called “the “Thi World” or the “less-developed countries” “The World Bank can hardly avold some discussion of the nature of government in development, and they have been preparing reports on this topic—what they have vaguely called governance for years nov. One recent version is 2007 World Bank report on governance tha says: in thie Inmplementing the strengthened approsch o governance... wile carefl development ofa... dtd resus famework, consideration of budget and stafing implications... and further consultions with stakeolders... The specific iniatives needed fly operational this strategy willbe outlined in an implementation Pan? ‘The following concepts ply litle oF no role in the “strengthened. approach to governance’: ibery, freedom, equality, rights, or democracy ‘These omissions are not aceidents they ae part of along pattern in World Bank reports. Questioned about the remarkably consistent omission of. the word democracy from World Bank ofl reports and speeches, for example, the World Bank Press Office explained to this author that the World Bank is legally not allowed by its own charter to ute the word democracy, We will retrace the revealing history bebind tls strange and important claim beck to the 1940s. “The lack of commitment to such ideas is exemplified by the World Bank’s successful evasion of any responsibility for busning down the homes of poor farmers It is further exemplified by its ingusti evasion, sch as a “strengthened approach to governance” complete with its “consideration of budget and stalling implications” The farmers in Muiende, Uganda, have reason to doubt whether they are included among the “men [who] ae born and remain fee and equal in rights”6 ‘The Tyranny of Experts ‘Te Tecunocnarie LuLusion The conventional approach to economic development, to making poor ‘countries rich, is based on a technorati illusion: the belie that poverty is purely technical problem amenable to such technical solutions as fertilizers, antibotics, or nuteiional supplements. We sce this in the Bank's actions in Mubende; we wil se the same belief prevalent amongst ‘others who combat global poverty, such as the Gates Foundation, the United Nations and US and UK ald agencies “The technocratc approach ignores what this book will establish as the rea cause of poverty—the unchecked power ofthe tte against poor people without sights In Mubende, Uganda for example the techniques of improved forestry offered solution to poverty. But itwasnotasoation forthe Mende farmers. The luslon that the problem wa technical only Aisteactedatetion from the soldiers and World Bank's violations of the rights ofthe farmers. By this technocrati luson, the technical experts unintentionally confer new powers and legitimacy on the state asthe entity that will Implement the technical solutions, The economists who advocate the technocratlc approach have a tevble nalveté about power—that as restraints on power ae losened or even removed, that same power wil remain benevolent ofits own accord ‘What used tobe the divine eight of kings as in our time become the evelopment ight of dictators. The implict vision in development today {is that of wel-inteationed autocats advised by technical experts, what {his book wil cll authoritarian development. The word technocracy (a synonym for authoritarian development) itself i an ealy twentieth- century coinage that means "rule by experts” The slight of band tha focuses attention on technical solutions while ‘covering up voations of the sights of real people isthe moral tragedy of evelopment today. The rights of the poor—such asthe right of Ugandan ‘armersnottobavetheicbomes burnt down-—aremoral ends in themselves ‘Molly neutral approaches to poverty do not exist. Any approach to evelopment wil either respect the rights of the poor or it will violate ‘them. One cannot avoid this moral choice by appealing to “nonieological «evidence-based polices (a popular phrase in development today) Introduction 7 Authoritarian development is also a pragmatic tragedy. History and modern experience suggest that fre individuals with political and economic rights—call it free development—make up a remarkably succesful problem-solving system. Free development gives us the right to choose amongst a myeiad of spontancous problem-sovers, rewarding ‘those that solve our problems. These public and private problem-sabvers sccomplish far more than dictators who implement solutions provided by experts, We wll see how fre development allows the squeaky wheel o get ‘he grease, while authoritarian development silences the squeaky wheel— pethaps with a police raid and a The technocratic illusion is that poverty results from a shortage of expertise, whereas poverty is really about a shortage of rights. The emphasis on the problem of expertise makes the problem of rights worse ‘The technical problems ofthe poor (and the absence of technical solutions for those problems) are a symptom of poverty, not a cause of poverty “This book argues thatthe cause of poverty Is the absence of political and ‘economic rights, the absence ofa free politcal and economic system that ‘would find the technical solutions tothe poor’s problems. The dictator ‘whom the experts expect wil accomplish the technical ies to technical problems isnt the soltions he isthe problem Avtuonrranians ANoxYMoUS ‘Thave made clear the postion this book argues. Bu this position could be completely wrong—thats why i wll take a whole book to consider inther morality, theory, and evidence does or doesnot show ¢ Tyranny of Experts, "Those who support autocrats in development do nt see utocracy a an din itself They gencinel believe atoceats would dliver the escape from poverty faster than foe systems will. They belie the experts advising the ‘utocrats know beter than poor individual how to solve thei problems. “They could be right—after all, here are some development sucess stores that happen inthe sbsence of individual rights, and many indval eorts ‘do fil among bot rich and poor). The pragmatic ase for ree ther than autocratic development offen goes aguinst our intuitions.8 ‘The Tyranny of Experts ‘Acommon concept among development observers over many decades Isthat ofthe "benevolent autocrat." According to this concept, the leader ‘may have unconstained power, but his intentions concerning what to «do wi that power are presumed o be good. He (and most autocrat are Indeed male) jst needs expert advice to accomplish good things, When {00d things doin fact happen to @ country governed by an autocrat— such as high economic growth or rapid bealthimprovements—the credit for these good things goes tothe autocrat. The good outcomes ae thereby taken as defacto evidence of the benevolence of the autocrat. These propositions could be correct—maybe it really does take autocrats to get things done, to avoid democratic stalemates—but they should at leat be