I would suggest Jonathan Kozol’s still-relevant book “Amazing Grace” for incredible narrative and more stats that compare areas like the Bronx to the most impoverished parts of the developing world.

As far as the tendency to over-generalize and not see the “grey,” this is something that we will have to battle from now until the end of time. It’s a good fight to fight, don’t get me wrong. But it rests on heavily embedded human proclivities. Nassim Taleb is perhaps the expert on just how pervasive and damaging that tendency, and its enablers like “confirmation bias,” really are.

You comment is spot on, so thank you.

Just as we fall victim to extrapolating our individual experiences, we also extrapolate our culture and values in misguided (even dangerous) ways. We must be careful not to fall victim to the blind belief (”convergence hypothesis” or call it what you will) that present condition of “the West” represents the “future” for everyone else. If we use this belief as the foundation for how we act to fight poverty, we will not be effective. The reality is far more complex as you say. We must pay attention to these “shade of grey”, constantly adapt our models to local environments, and listen to the needs of the people that “we serve”.

Thanks again,
Jake

There’s great value in having the recent, very public debate about aid, prompted by Dead Aid. The whole area needs much more scrutiny.

However, the challenge is moving beyond everyone’s personal experiences. There’s a prevailing tendency to extrapolate what we personally see happening in development to colour the whole debate.
“NGOs steal the best people and distort the market. Development is failing.” “I’ve seen people receive education and medical services from NGOs and agencies that they wouldn’t have received from their governments. It has changed their lives. Development is good.”
Okay, these are simplified, but witness a public debate about aid and development, and count how many times people extrapolate their experiences to draw broad conclusions. It happens constantly. The reality is far more complex, and hides, indeed, among many shades of gray.
Good post.
Brendan