Nina Munk on Poverty, Development, and the Idealist

Nina Munk talks with host Russ Roberts about her book, The Idealist. Munk spent 6 years following Jeffrey Sachs and the evolution of the Millennium Villages Project--an attempt to jumpstart a set of African villages in hopes of discovering a new template for development. Munk details the great optimism at the beginning of the project and the discouraging results after six years of high levels of aid. Sach's story is one of the great lessons in unintended consequences and the complexity of the development process.