I was asked by H-net Diplo to review Coyne’s book. Doing Bad by Doing Good is the title. Coyne takes his inspiration from Mandeville and the fable of the bees. If you know the fable you already know how Coyne’s book goes. I was not impressed. Very misleading book I thought. Read all about it here.
There should be a law (and i’m sure there is) against beating a dead horse to death. Your review of the book suggest that the law is not widely followed. Ironically, its a little bit like these weak and repetitive critiques of AID, oversupplied, ideologically driven, and empirically shallow.