Paul Collier

Available for over a year

Paul Collier, author of "The Bottom Billion", Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University, advocates the giving of overseas aid only to countries without a "credible prospect of escaping mass poverty over the next generation." "Properly justified, and clearly bounded, most British people have the decency to support turning despair into hope. But people should not be exected to aquiesce if co-erced through taxation into meeting need wherever on the globe it is found." "Why Poverty?" features five speakers on different aspects of the subject of poverty and is part of a pan-BBC season of programmes on the topic. Producer: Sheila Cook.