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Events • May 6, 2014 

# *The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor*

The technocratic approach to ending global poverty favored by development experts often strengthens authoritarian governments and neglects or undermines the preferences and personal choices of poor people. William Easterly will explain why a different branch of economics emerged for poor countries and how it has served the interests of decisionmakers in powerful countries, political leaders in poor countries, and humanitarians in rich countries. Join us to hear Professor Easterly make a case in favor of liberty that has so far been disregarded by the experts: poverty can only be ended and development sustained by respecting the individual rights of the world’s poor.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![William Easterly circle](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-11/william-easterly-circle.jpeg?itok=3Wga3BxP) 

##### William Easterly 

Author and Professor Emeritus of Economics, New York University

[![Ian Vásquez](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Ian%20Vasquez.jpg?itok=yBS_mzpm)](/people/ian-vasquez) 

##### [Ian Vásquez](/people/ian-vasquez)

Vice President for International Studies, Cato Institute

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](https://x.com/vasquezian) [ 

](mailto:ivasquez@cato.org)