Why do oil and diamonds lead to economic disaster more often than boom? Why doesn't Africa grow cocaine? Why might believing in God be good for your balance-sheet? In 2001 Argentina's government bankrupted itself, yet for the past two hundred years it had enjoyed a vista of economic opportunity almost identical to that of the USA. Why did the USA succeed while Argentina stalled? Botswana and Sierra Leone are both blessed with abundant diamonds. Why did Botswana became the world's fastest-growing economy while Sierra Leone suffered a decade of brutal civil war? In ''False Economy'', Alan Beattie uses extraordinary stories of economic triumph and disaster to explain how some countries went wrong while others went right, and why it's so difficult to change course once you're on the path to ruin.