Lesson plan

William Easterly

William Russell Easterly (born September 7, 1957) is an American economist specializing in economic development. He is a professor of economics at New York University, joint with Africa House, and co-director of NYU's Development Research Institute. He is a research associate of NBER, senior fellow at the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) of Duke University, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. Easterly is an associate editor of the Journal of Economic Growth. Easterly is the author of four books: The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (2001); The White Man's Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (2006), which won the 2008 Hayek Prize; Violent Saviors (2025); and The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor (2014), which was a finalist for the 2015 Hayek Prize.

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Article summary

William Russell Easterly (born September 7, 1957) is an American economist specializing in economic development. He is a professor of economics at New York University, joint with Africa House, and co-director of NYU's Development Research Institute. He is a research associate of NBER, senior fellow at the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) of Duke University, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. Easterly is an associate editor of the Journal of Economic Growth. Easterly is the author of four books: The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (2001); The White Man's Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (2006), which won the 2008 Hayek Prize; Violent Saviors (2025); and The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor (2014), which was a finalist for the 2015 Hayek Prize.

Key claims

  1. date of birth: 1957-09-07 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of birth is "1957-09-07". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

No sources recorded.

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.