A working shelf, kept short on purpose.

The books I return to when thinking about markets, capital allocation and how development actually happens.

How Asia WorksJoe StudwellThe clearest account of why some development strategies compound and others merely spend.

The OutsidersWilliam ThorndikeCapital allocation as the actual job, a quiet manual for anyone who runs something.

Poor EconomicsBanerjee & DufloDistrust the grand narrative. Watch what people actually do.

Seeing Like a StateJames C. ScottWhy central plans and tidy maps so reliably break on contact with reality.

Where Good Ideas Come FromSteven JohnsonOn the adjacent possible, and how to read a signal before it has a name.

The Anti-Politics MachineJames FergusonA bracing corrective on what development interventions in Africa really do.