"Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can be Done About It" discussed at the InfoShop on April 30, 2007, 2:00-3:30pm in J1-050

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and the Development Economics Vice-Presidency
cordially invite you to a panel discussion featuring a recent Oxford
University Press publication
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| (Embedded | The Bottom Billion: |
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| | Global poverty is actually falling quite |
| | rapidly for about eighty percent of the world. |
| | The real crisis lies in a group of about 50 |
| | failing states, the bottom billion. In The |
| | Bottom Billion, Collier contends that these |
| | fifty failed states pose the central challenge |
| | of the developing world in the twenty-first |
| | century. What the bottom billion need is a bold |
| | new plan supported by the Group of Eight |
| | industrialized nations, Collier asserts. |
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| | Monday, April 30, 2007 from 2:00 - 3:30pm |
| | World Bank J Building, J1 - 050 |
| | (701 18th St. NW corner of 18th St. and |
| | Pennsylvania Ave.) |
| | A reception will follow the presentation |
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"One of the most engaging and provocative books on
development to appear in a long time. His analyses and
proposals -- delivered, by the way, in prose unusually
good for an author who happens to be an economist -- are
sound and should be embraced by people who care and can
do something about the poorest of the world."
Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico and director
of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization
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Chair
Francois Bourguignon
Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President, Development Economics,
World Bank
Francois Bourguignon is a specialist in the economics of
development, public policy, economic growth, income distribution and
inequality. As the World Bank?s Senior Vice President for
Development Economics and Chief Economist since October 2003, he
provides intellectual leadership and direction to the Bank?s overall
development strategy and economic research agenda, at global,
regional and country levels.

Author
Paul Collier
Director, Center for the Study of African Economies, Oxford
University
Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center
for the School of African Economies at Oxford University. Former
director of research at the World Bank and advisor to the British
Government's Commission on Africa, he is one of the world's leading
experts on African economies, and is the author of Breaking the
Conflict Trap, a World Bank policy research report and, most
recently, The Bottom Billion, in which he offers hope for a group of
about fifty failing states whose problems defy traditional
approaches to alleviating poverty.

Commentary
Alan Gelb
Director, Development Policy, World Bank
Before assuming his current position as Director, Development Policy
at the World Bank in 2004, Alan Gelb was the Bank's Chief Economist
for Africa. He is a specialist on transition economies, financial
systems, macroeconomic management, commodity prices and the
economics and political economy of oil-exporting countries.  He
co-authored Can Africa Claim the 21st Century?, an authoritative
study on African development.
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About the InfoShop
The InfoShop is the public information center and development
bookstore of the World Bank. It functions as the only publicly
accessible space at headquarters, providing internal and external
audiences access to over 6000 titles published by the World Bank,
other international organizations, and other publishers on
development issues. It is a space where information and documents
on World Bank development operations, economic data, and strategies,
can be read easily and comfortably at workstations designed for
public use. In addition, the InfoShop hosts book launches,
exhibits, seminars, receptions, and other community outreach events,
and also carries videos, posters, CD-ROMs, and gift items.
For more information, visit: www.worldbank.org/infoshop