Paul Collier

Centre for the Study of African Economies; Oxford University

Paul Collier is professor of economics and director of the Centre of African Economies at Oxford University. He is also Professorial Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford.

Collier is a specialist in the political, economic, and developmental predicaments of poor countries. He is the former director of Development Research at the World Bank. In addition to the award-winning The Bottom Billion, he is the author of Wars, Guns, and Votes. He holds a Distinction Award from Oxford University, and in 1988 he was awarded the Edgar Graham Book Prize for the co-written Labour and poverty in Rural Tanzania: Ujamaa and Rural Development in the United Republic of Tanzania.

Economist Paul Collier explains why exporting natural resources has been a disaster for many African countries in the long run. It's all about governance.

Economist Paul Collier says that the real problem is not global poverty, but the widening divergence between the rising fortunes of most of the world and the billion people stagnating at the bottom.

Featured Work

The Plundered Planet:  Why We Must — and How We Can — Manage Nature for Global Prosperity

MAY 7, 2010 Podcast

The Plundered Planet: Why We Must--and How We Can--Manage Nature for Global Prosperity

What, asks Oxford economist Paul Collier, are realistic and sustainable solutions to correcting the mismanagement of the natural world? Can an international standard be established ...

The Bottom Billion

JAN 7, 2008 Podcast

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It

Global poverty is falling, but a minority of developing countries are stagnant and diverging from the rest of mankind, says Collier, which is a danger ...