![](https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2024/09/06/GettyImages-2165952623-800x418.jpg?1725685294)
The tragedy of progress in the developing world
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” begins Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, about the French Revolution. The phrase, which so concisely captures the complexity of life, has become a cliché. But this underrates its …