This insightful and original book explores the key issues that countries in Africa and South Asia need to address in order to escape poverty. Challenging traditional assumptions about the world’s poorest countries, the top priorities to address are identified as adult literacy, electricity for manufacturing, and the consequence of the relationship between fertility and savings.

These suggestions are placed within a historical perspective, placing discussions on modern day Africa and South Asia alongside the development of East Asia, Europe, and the Americas in previous...