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

If you genuinely care about the world that will be here years after you have long-since passed on, then this book (along with "Abundance" from Peter Diamandis) is a MUST READ CAREFULLY piece of work. All too often I see less-than-supportive reviews being made on world-altering contributions like this because people are selfishly wanting to criticize form and literary style or get all hung up on the writer's delivery, completely failing to see not only the writer's heart, but the HUGE contribution they are leaving for future generations. Interestingly, most negative reviews never begin with the words, "Having published several of my own books..."Most negative reviews will always come from those in the grand stands, not on the field with those like Charles Kenny who are making such a significant difference.Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for this valuable, powerful book!Ken Dahl (author of "Rebuilding The Village")

Kenny does a very credible job in making the case for development aid. Kenny shines a well researched "light" on the successes of foreign aid in contrast to the overly gloomy assessments advanced by some. Underlying his work, is the notion that standard of living of the world's seven billion people should be the highest aim of all our personal aspirations and goals.

While this book is a little repetitive, it certainly has a fresh take on how aid to developing countries can help, and what kind of aid works well, and what doesn't work. As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, it certainly rings true with what I saw and observed in my three years in Africa.

Charles Kenny is a distinguished economist whose optimism is well grounded in reality. He skillfully debunks the myth that development aid is doomed to failure and a waste of money. This is an excellent supplement to the 2010 U.N. Human Development Report. Both books bring the little-recognized good news that over the last 40 years and more the world, in most places and on average, has indeed become much better. If we look past the dire headlines to the less widely reported truth, we come to understand that in fact the human race has achieved great things over the last generation or so. We are living in a goldent age, even if the New York Times does not choose to report it.I'll quote some vital statistics from the latest UN HDR--Since 1970 (a) average life expectancy at birth has increased from 59 years to 70; (b) percentage of enrollment in school of high school aged kids has increased from 55% to 70%; and (c) per capita annual income has doubled from $5,000 to $10,000 (purchasing-power-adjusted).Much of this amazing progress was possible (and will continue to be possible), as Kenny points out, because the costs for basics are or have become cheap. It doesn't cost much in local currency to staff a basic educational system, and low cost medical interventions can have a huge effect in raising the performance of developing world health systems.Yes, there are still hundreds of millions who live in terrible poverty, there is extreme inequality, and the environmental sustainability of tthe world economy is in doubt. Nevertheless, as Kenny argues, there is reasons to hope that even the children of the poorest families will live better lives than their parents.

up tp the 30%, it's interesting. got an impression that it was well written. backing up the point nicely.but it gets a bit boring, cuz the author continues on repeating the same essentials in different points. it's awesome that s/he has evidences for every single point he makes except that it really boils down to the point s/he made in the beginning. and the later part gets not so much realistic or just feels like a pretty words.for me, who haven't read any books about the 3rd world development, it was interesting.i would recommend this to someone who's interested in this field but not so quite familiar and would recommend to read some parts of the book

Author Kenny's message is an important one - that while Africa and many other areas have lagged in terms of income growth over recent decades, they have also seen unprecedented improvement in health and education, security, and human rights. The problem with this message is, that after presenting a few overall statistics in documentation, he goes on and on and on for another 200+ pages. Simply put, the book should be condensed to about two pages.Here's the 30,000' overview: Since 1960, global average infant mortality has more than halved. The percentage of sub-Saharan Africans who could read and write doubled between 1970 and 1999, from less than one-third to two-thirds. Between 1962 and 2002, life expectancy in the Middle East and North Africa rose from 48 to 69 years. The percentage of the world's infants vaccinated with DPT rose from 20% to nearly 80% between 1970 and 2006.

Taylor Baker's review was made as part of a critical review assignment for the Spring 2016 Economics of Technology seminar at the University of Nebraska Omaha, taught by Art Diamond. (The course syllabus stated that part of the critical review assignment consisted of the making of a video recording of the review, and the posting of the review to Amazon. Diamond reserved the right to modify the number of stars the student assigned to the book, in cases where Diamond had himself read the book.)

Kenny argues that while income continues to diverge across the world, life is nonetheless getting better for most people: there's intrinsically (barring market problems which have been the causes of past famines) enough food to go round, there's convergence in the quality of life (life expectancy, literacy, satisfaction with life), and that's because the buying power of a 2000 dollar is a great deal more in terms of the things that matter (eg medicines) these days, and because some of the critical things are life are free (knowledge about how diseases transmit for example - the germ theory that says "wash your hands" and knowledge how to treat diarrhoea).No-one knows what causes growth, a short review concludes: investment, technological change, "less government intervention" (privatisation etc), or a "network of property rights, markets systmes and democratic decision-making, have all failed the empirical test of explaining the data, in Kenny's view. Eastern Europe grew fast enough under Communism. So it's just as well that things are working out in despite of growth convergency - indeed it's hard to tell what will work, in Kenny's view - for instance the spread of TV and soap operas with characters with small family size in Brazil has as much impact on fertility rates as two additional years of education for women.This is quite a hard book to read: I suspect it falls uneasily between being a popular text and an academic treatise. It's crammed with footnote references and academic argument against rival views - I would suspect it won't exactly win academic arguments either though...But well worth reading.

I want to start by admitting that I did not feel a sudden enlightenment after reading this book, however, well done on the authors for finally bringing development in to a positive context. Many books on this subject can leave you drained, searching for an answer that is not simply to use a Swahili phrase "habari ndio hiyo" meaning this is simply the way things are is near impossible and can lead the undecided towards skepticism which essentially results in them doing nothing to solve life's inequalities (that may be harsh some of them sit at Costa and complain how futile any efforts to make things better are).Read this book if you want a positive alternative to boost your motivation and to read about society's improvements based on absolute terms. If someone is volunteering for the first time, I would give them this book as I am sure they will pick up all the others later and can make an informed view for themselves.

Great to read an optimistic book about global issues at last. It was well written, arguments were clearly stated and not overly complicated. It has already been borrowed by several friends and family members!