For decades, efforts to end world poverty have focused on redistributing wealth, rather than creating it. This approach, however, has done little to foster long-term economic progress. In Africa, for example, average gross domestic product fell by more than 16 percent from 1975 to 2000, despite billions of dollars in foreign aid. Critics charge that government development assistance suppresses local enterprises and markets and is too often squandered by oppressive regimes.

Fortunately, a growing body of research points toward a simple, but often overlooked, approach that some countries have been using with remarkable success. Why are so many countries foundering economically while others are prospering? What is the “secret” to economic growth that can lift more countries out of poverty? Please join us as Benjamin Powell, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, and George Ayittey uncover the secrets to making poor nations rich and ending the abject poverty affecting billions of people worldwide.