[.ca] The Power of Productivity: Wealth, Poverty, and the ... (ISBN 0226476987)

it's the productivity stupid!:
Very well written, easy to read, very well documented. Finally somebody wrote, in a comprehensible way, what economists can not explain through "models". Lewis touches the core points that should be addresed by the citizens of the third world if they ever want to leave poverty. It will not surprise you what has to be done, but you will understand the strong forces that have to be bent before ever starting the path to prosperity. Sometimes repetitive (due to the constant comparisson among countries) but definetivelly worth reading.

A breakthrough in explaining economic success and failure:
Anyone who is interested in what makes our economy, and the rest of the world's economies, work and not work ought to read the Power of Productivity. Drawing on a decade of research by McKinsey into the productivity of major industries around the world, Lewis has been able to go far deeper into this subject than economists who are limited by official data. This is the first book I've ever read whose explanations of economic success and failure really ring true in light of my personal experience in business and government. Charles O. Rossotti, Washington, DC