An economist and writer, Robert Calderisi studied at the Universities of Montreal, Oxford, Sussex and London. In 1968, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for the Province of Quebec.

He started his career at the Department of Finance in Ottawa in 1971, moved to the Canadian International Development Agency in 1975 and to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris in 1978, then spent 22 years at the World Bank, headquartered in Washington, DC.

He was the World Bank’s Country Division Chief for Indonesia and the South Pacific (1987-89), head of the Bank’s Regional Mission in Western Africa in the Ivory Coast (1991-94), the Bank’s international spokesman on Africa (1997-2000) and Country Director for Central Africa (2000-2002). He left the Bank in July 2002 and now lives in Montreal.

His book The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn’t Working was published by Palgrave Macmillan (New York) in March 2006 and by Yale University Press (London) in July 2006. A French translation was issued by Les Editions Fides (Montreal)) in August 2006.

In December 2006, The Economist magazine selected it as one of the best books of the year.