Kind of skimmed last 2/3rds. Decent points, but not the most rigorous or well written book. The point about aid causing a disconnect between politicians and citizens is the most poignant - if politicians don't need to rely on income taxes to raise funds, there's less need to obtain consent of citizens and engage them. But book doesn't really make the case that aid is cause of slow growth. As it mentions, maybe there needs to be really, really, high levels of aid to make a difference?

And really, amount of aid transferred and length it has been transferred is drop in ocean compared how long countries were colonized and damage done by slave trade and resource extraction. Wish more had been said about this in book.

Proposed solutions don't seem very good. What exactly does going to bond market accomplish? Other than future defaults? And microfinance has proved to be no panacea. It's good for poor people to have options to allow them to smooth out consumption, but no evidence that microfinance drives economic growth. Best point was about links to China. Opportunity for more innovation with more competition.