The Economist's Tale

Reviews

'This is a delightful read, a real page turner as the pressure builds and an antidote to the popular belief that for a book on economics to be taken seriously it must be difficult. The book can be read on many levels: as a gripping narrative, as a parable for our times, as a fascinating insight into what a professional economist does when dispatched to a third world country, as a behind the scenes view of the interplay of politics, greed and the World Bank's obsession with one economic solution. It makes economics personal. As such, it is an ideal read for the sixth form economist or sociologist and an essential text for courses on development and globalisation...its value in winning the interest of students cannot be overstated. Every school should have a copy. Persuade your school or college librarian now.' - The Journal of the Economics & Business Education Association, 2004

'Written in diary form, The Economists‘s Tale is a lightly fictionized account (to avoid libel) of Mr Griffiths‘ struggle to make the government defy the World Bank. Sparkling in his role as a conscience-stricken double agent, he fights intrigue and physical danger to triumph in the end. Along the way, he brilliantly elucidates the relationship between incompetence and corruption, both in Sierra Leone and the aid industry at large.' - The Economist, August 30-September 5, 2003

'Peter Griffiths, a leading international aid consultant, exposes how measures by the World Bank preventing the Sierra Leone government from importing food in favour of the private sector caused disaster in the late Eighties... Griffiths paints a picture in which World Bank staff are promoted only for implementing rigid orthodoxies while whistleblowers questioning government corruption are expelled.' - The Observer, 31 August 2003

'Highly readable. [This book] presents economics in practice while also highlighting the constraints that consultants ... face on the ground. It is passionately written and backed up by knowledge and experience.' - New Agriculturist on-line

'Unputdownable - as thrilling as any thriller... I‘ve never read an account of the life of an economic consultant which came anywhere near it in the vividness of the observation or the pace of the action.' - Clive Dewey Emeritus Reader in Economic History, University of Leicester

'The Economist‘s Tale brings economics alive. As a diarized account of the work of an economist - sensitively written and enjoyable - it is compulsory reading for anybody studying economics, management, marketing, business and other social sciences.' - David Needham, author of Business Studies‘ and other best selling business books.

'A gripping narrative, ...... It makes economics personal. ...... an ideal read for the sixth form economist or sociologist and an essential text for courses on development and globalisation. ....... Its value in winning the interest of students cannot be overstated. Every school should have a copy. Persuade your school or college librarian now.' - Business Education Today, April 2005

'Remarkable for its rich detail and its vivid and sometimes humorous description, but most of all for its economic insights it offers and the way it traces the critical thought processes of a researcher in the field...It is rare to find such a detailed, vivid, helpful account of what it is like to do development work.' - Review of Radical Political Economy