Abstract

What really happens when the World Bank imposes its policies on a country? This is an insider‘s view of one aid-made crisis. Peter Griffiths was at the interface between government and the Bank. In this ruthlessly honest, day by day account of a mission he undertook in Sierra Leone, he uses his diary to tell the story of how the World Bank, obsessed with the free market, imposed a secret agreement on the government, banning all government food imports or subsidies. The collapsing economy meant that the private sector would not import. Famine loomed. No ministry, no state marketing organization, no aid organization could reverse the agreement. It had to be a top-level government decision, whether Sierra Leone could afford to annoy minor World Bank officials. This is a rare and important portrait of the aid world which insiders will recognize, but of which the general public seldom get a glimpse.

'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. Every school should have a copy. Persuade your school or college librarian now.'
The Journal of the Economics & Business Education Association

'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.'
The Economist

'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

'Passionately written and backed up by knowledge and experience.'
New Agriculturist 

'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.'
David Needham, author of Business Studies

'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

Peter Griffiths is an independent economist and consultant. This book is being published under a pseudonym since its subject matter relates to a mission which he undertook for the World Bank.