William Easterly is Professor of Economics, New York University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development and Institute for International Economics, Washington DC. He spent 16 years as a research economist at the World Bank (1985–2001). He is the author of the acclaimed book, The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (MIT Press, 2001), and numerous articles in leading economics journals and general interest publications. His primary fields of interest are Africa, economic development and growth, macroeconomics of developing countries, and political economy. He has worked in many areas of the developing world, most extensively in Africa, Latin America and Asia. He is associate editor of the Journal of Development Economics and Editor of the BE Press Journals in Economics and Growth of Developing Areas. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from MIT.