The Elusive Quest For Growth: Economists'Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics is a 2001 book by World Bank development economist William Easterly.

Upon its release, the book received acclaim from such figures as Bruce Bartlett, Robert Solow, and Paul Romer, and has since become widely cited in the Economic Development literature.

Easterly’s primary thesis is that the numerous efforts to remedy extreme poverty in the Third World have failed because they have neglected that individuals, businesses, governments, and donors respond to incentives.

These models justified huge amounts of aid from Western governments and intergovernmental organizations, to fill the “finance gap” between domestic savings and required investment.

Easterly also discusses the failed efforts of states to use education, family planning, and debt forgiveness as means to grow out of poverty.

Because shortfalls would elicit increased loans and donors demonstrated little interest in revoking aid, there was little incentive for states to improve their policies.

"[4] High inflation, negative interest rates, black market premiums, high government budget deficits, restrictions on free trade, poor public services, corruption, and arbitrary enforcement of property rights lower the return on private investment and create poor incentives for growth.