(May 29, 2009) Professor Jeffrey Sachs continues the debate on aid to Africa originally prompted by Dambisa Moyo’s book Dead Aid. As usual, I will of course let Dr. Moyo defend herself against specific criticisms made by Sachs and his co-author John McArthur. But Sachs unveils such a strange geographic theory of Africa’s poverty, with strong implications for aid policy, that I am forced to respond.
Moyo’s confused attack on aid for Africa
(May 29, 2009) Aid critics have recently been blaming aid as the source of Africa’s poverty. This column explains how Africa has long been struggling with rural poverty, tropical diseases, illiteracy, and lack of infrastructure and that the right solution is to help address these critical needs through transparent and targeted public and private investments. This includes both more aid and more market financing.
Aid ironies: a response to Jeffrey Sachs
(May 26, 2009) Ahead of the publication of my book Dead Aid, an author friend of mine cautioned me about responding to opponents who found it necessary to color their criticism with personal attacks. This, he argued, is a tried and tested way of side-stepping the issues and providing a smoke screen when faced with a valid argument.
To aid or not to aid, that is the question
(May 31, 2009) If Africa’s underdevelopment has been compounded mainly by official aid, as the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo argues in her book “Dead Aid”, then addressing it might be as straightforward as she suggests. Aid could be turned off, African governments would work harder to foster growth and private capital might prove more effective in curbing poverty.
Massive influx of aid to Pakistan carries massive risk of corruption
(May 8, 2009) The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which provides billions of dollars in long-term interest-free grants and loans to the world’s 78 poorest countries, is apparently not too concerned about the fraudulent or corrupt use of its loans.
Aiding is Abetting
(April 30, 2009) Dambisa Moyo’s prescription for economic sustainability in Africa—which includes cutting off all aid within five years—might seem insane if the statistics weren’t so grim: despite one trillion dollars in western aid over the past sixty years, the economic lot of the average African has only gotten worse.
Nigeria’s economic woes and the doctrine of odious debt
Nigerian historian Femi Eseku makes an eloquent and compelling argument for establishing stricter conditions for receiving aid in order to end the cycle of odious debts perpetuated by what he calls "carnivorous economic saboteurs, disguised as international donor agencies and their greedy oligarchic African recipients."
G8 : Some give, plenty of take
(July 16, 2009) The media has presented the G8’s L’Alqila summit promise of US$20 billion for food security and agricultural development in Africa as good news, but a closer look at the figures shows that G8 countries actually take much more out than they put into the continent, writes Yash Tandon.
The aid industry in Nepal — large budgets, large problems
(November 26, 2008) The Asian Development Bank, Chinese banks, and Indian firms are using foreign aid to build a mega-dam in Nepal where experts say an earthquake is likely. Nepal’s Federation of Water and Energy Users says the decision bypassed Parliament, violates the constitution and the human rights of Nepalese. Meanwhile, local micro-hydro operators are churning out cheaper, reliable, aid-free power.
Why consumers and citizens should pull the plug on the Asian Development Bank- part 1 of 2
(May 3, 2000) Without market discipline or public oversight, the ADB is a financial and environmental menace, providing a breeding ground for electricity investments that destroy the environment, create poverty, sink Asian citizens in debt, cost taxpayers in donor countries money, and deprive consumers of cheaper, better generating options.
U.S., other nations step up bribery battle
(September 12, 2008) The Wall Street Journal’s Russel Gold and David Crawford look at the
The perils of delivering aid
(August 15, 2008) The gunning down of three female foreign aid workers – two of them Canadians – and their Afghan driver a few dozen miles south of Kabul on Wednesday is the latest bloody murder to underscore the relentless deterioration in Afghan security conditions.
Peddling yesterday’s technology: Aid for large hydro dams must be stopped
Grainne Ryder Speech to the World Commission on Dams, Hanoi, Vietnam February 27, 2000 Thank you ladies and gentlemen for this opportunity to speak today to the World Commission on Dams. The […]
The divine power of profit
A dam near the source of the White Nile would obliterate the Bujagali Falls: a spiritual site for Uganda’s 2.5 million-strong minority Busoga, who believe their tribe’s spirits reside in the churning water; and a tourist river-rafting destination.
News Release: Bankrolling Nam Theun 2
Today the World Bank is expected to approve financing for a massive US$1.2 billion dam in Laos despite international concern that the project’s revenue will be mismanaged or siphoned off by corrupt officials and contractors.
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