Colonialism, Slavery, and Foreign Aid (with William Easterly)

Podcast: EconTalk (LS 69 · TOP 0.05% what is this?)Episode: Colonialism, Slavery, and Foreign Aid (with William Easterly)Pub date: 2025-12-08Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarization Can the promise of economic progress ever justify conquest, coercion, and control over other people’s lives? Economist William Easterly joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to argue no--and to rethink what "development" really means in theory, in history, and in our politics today. Drawing on his new book, Violent Saviors: The West's Conquest of the Rest, Easterly explores how colonial powers and later regimes like the Soviet Union claimed to increase people's material well-being while stripping them of freedom, dignity, and any say in their own fate. Russ and Easterly dig into the idea of agency--the ability of people to choose for themselves--through the lens of Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Kant, Frederick Douglass, and modern debates over foreign aid, autocrats, and technocratic "solutions" imposed from afar.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Russ Roberts, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.