In this book, Robert Anderson, a development consultant and former World Bank economist, recommends a different approach. Instead of adopting policies that are common in rich countries, Anderson suggests that policymakers take into account the institutional weaknesses typical of developing countries - corruption, deficient rule of law, cronyism, and so on. Simpler, market-oriented policies are more suitable to poor countries institutional environments and more likely to produce growth and keep the private and public sectors honest.
Anderson recommends sometimes counterintuitive policy solutions for a number of areas - banking, privatization, corporate governance, bankruptcy, and competition. For instance, he argues that "rich countries were once poor countries" and that "examples from the past in rich countries may be more appropriate for poor countries today."