Answer to Poverty

"If we truly want to help the poor, rather than just congratulate ourselves for generosity, we rich Westerners have to give up our grand ambitions. Piecemeal problem-solving has the best chance of success.
[Contrast the] Planner approach of most aid projects with the Searcher approach that works so well in the markets and democracies of the West. Searchers treat problem-solving as an incremental discovery process, relying on competition and feedback to figure out what works.
A Planner thinks he already knows the answers. A Searcher admits he doesn't know the answers in advance; he believes that poverty is a complicated tangle of political, social, historical, institutional and technological factors. Planners trust outside experts. Searchers emphasize homegrown solutions."

-New York Times Book Review of "The White Man's Burden" by William Easterly