Book Forum 

# *Poverty and Progress: Realities and Myths about Global Poverty*

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Date and Time 

June 18, 2013 12 - 1:30 PM EDT 

Location 

Hayek Auditorium 

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##### Featuring 

Featuring the author **Deepak Lal**, Professor Emeritus of International Development Studies, University of California at Los Angeles, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute; with comments by **Marcus Noland**, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics; moderated by **Ian Vasquez**, Director, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute. 

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The greatest reduction in mass poverty in human history has occurred during the current era of globalization. The world’s poor are now catching up with the rich at a rapid pace in terms of human well-being. Deepak Lal will discuss how, despite those achievements, confusion about poor countries abounds: the World Bank exaggerates the extent of poverty; the benefits of new development fads including microfinance or randomized testing of projects, are vastly oversold; and discredited theories, such as the need for massive foreign aid to save Africa, have been resurrected. Marcus Noland will draw from his experience working in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to comment on the book and its view that increased liberalization in the developing world is decreasing the influence of the West’s advocates of dirigisme.

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