Pawned States: State Building in the Era of International Finance. By Didac Queralt. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022. Pp. xiii, 343. $120.00, cloth; $35.00, paper.

be identified, is an entirely different story. But this is sometimes mixed up, and the rise in life expectancy and education that is statistically “causing” the rise of the wellbeing index developed by LP, is also identified as the final cause of the gains. I think, to make a long story short, that productivity growth made possible by the accumulation of ideas is still the best candidate for the most important driver of development and increase in wellbeing in the long run. LP probably disagrees. The debate continues.