Second revised edition of an examination of the failures of aid to eliminate poverty, particularly in Africa. It purports that aid can often have harmful effects, such as undermining the working of the market economy, thus reducing growth and development. It also contains the author's ideas for a new approach to aid and development.

This text examines the failures of aid to eliminate poverty. The world development effort can claim only limited success, and in some parts of the world, especially Africa, failure must be recognized. William Ryrie, while starting from a position of sympathy with the aims of the aid effort, insists that the record must be analyzed with ruthless honesty. Well intentioned aid has often had perverse and harmful effects. One of these has been to undermine the working of the market economy, which offers the best hope for development and growth. His book proposes a new approach to the development task which would reconcile it with market philosophies.

List of Tables and Figures - Foreword to the Second Edition - Acknowledgements - Introduction - Half a Century of International Development - Success or Failure - The Illusion of State-Managed Development - The Market Revolution - Global Capital Flows - Is Capitalism Right for the Third World? - Re-Inventing Aid - The International Finance Corporation - What Future for the World Bank and IMF? - The Collapse of the Second World - Where Now? - Twenty Propositions about Development and Aid - Notes and References - Index