I could make a cheap crack: "I spent three days at the Aspen Ideas Festival and all I got was this swanky schwag bag with corporate-logo'd goodies," but I won't because I like my bag and schwag. And I got lots more from my time at the Institute's signature public event. One highlight among many: a challenging talk by my new Aspen Institute colleague, Clare Lockhart. Lockhart co-authored Fixing Failed States with Ashraf Ghani, the former finance minister of Afghanistan. The book builds on their five years of collaboration as they invented several radically sensible approaches to building a functional state. What worked, and didn't, in Afghanistan inspired them to study success stories and failures in search of lessons for others.

Her talk included a pretty stunning denunciation of "the aid complex," with its bewildering array of competing priorities, high overhead charges, overpaid expatriates, and disregard for local opinions. (Ghani spent most of his time mediating among, and providing information to, 30 UN agencies, scores of bilateral donors, and 3,000 NGOs.) Some of the key reforms they proposed were ultimately undercut by well-meaning but thoughtless outside interventions. Their call for simple steps to build markets and promote market-based solutions is a challenge to aid as we know it, at least in the context of the world's roughly 40-60 failed or fragile states.

Lockhart and Ghani may be just as angry as Bill Easterly, who shares with Lockhart an earlier career as a World Banker. And their suggestions may be similar: prioritize local consultation and capacity; get the incentives right; insist on accountability. But Lockhart's delivery is, well, more civil. And that may help her sound more optimistic. After all, as Clare noted in her Aspen talk, she and Ghani went looking for things that worked. They found common features in the remarkably disparate cases of economic transformations they studied: Singapore; the Republic of Ireland; Spain; and states in the American South.

Four intriguing features drawn from their case studies:
1. Combine a long-term vision and the flexibility to adjust.
2. Keep a relentless focus on competent, accountable management of public finances.
3. Invest in secondary, tertiary, and vocational education to begin creating competent local administrators, engineers, and mid-level managers.
4. Develop an indigenous construction industry to create jobs and housing.

See? Simple.