Give audiobooks, support local bookstores! Start gifting
Left Behind by Paul Collier
  Send as gift   Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account
Illustration of person sitting

Shop small, give big!

With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.

Start gifting
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Sign up today

Left Behind

A New Economics for Neglected Places

$29.39

Get for $14.99 with membership
Narrator Peter Noble

This audiobook uses AI narration.

We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

Learn more
Length 11 hours 42 minutes
Language English
  Send as gift   Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account

From the bestselling author of The Bottom Billion, the fate of the poorest regions of the world–some of which exist in the richest nations–is examined.

Using examples of the “left behind” regions, renowned development economist Paul Collier shows that centralized western economies have been the most ineffective to alleviate poverty—even if nationally the country seems to be growing.

In Left Behind, Collier examines how the assumption that any impoverished area will find a way to progress through market forces has devastated nations all over the world. 

With keen insight, he draws lessons from such disparate fields as behavioral psychology, evolutionary biology, and moral philosophy to explain how we can adapt to the needs of individual economies in order to build a brighter and fairer global future.

Sir Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford. From 1998–2003 he took a five-year Public Service leave during which he was Director of the Research Development Department of the World Bank. He is currently a Professeur invité at Sciences Po and a Director of the International Growth Centre at the London School of Economics. He has written for the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Collier has authored numerous books, including The Bottom Billion (Oxford University Press, 2007) which in 2008 won the Lionel Gelber, Arthur Ross and Corine prizes and in May 2009 was the joint winner of the Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book prize.

Illustration of person sitting

Shop small, give big!

With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.

Start gifting
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Sign up today

Reviews

"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."—SIR 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 CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS "Another tour de force from the acclaimed author of The Bottom Billion. 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 Expand reviews
Give audiobooks, support local bookstores! Start gifting