The study of why some countries are poor and others are rich goes back at least to 1776 when Adam Smith inquired into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. It has only been since World War II, however, that economists began focusing intently on why some countries did not seem to be developing. The next several decades saw incredible amounts of attention focused on less-developed countries (LDCs). NYU economist William Easterly calculates that developed nations have spent around 2.3 trillion in today’s dollars over the past 50 years trying to help LDCs.