The Perversion of Development Aid: when growth is evil

May 1, 2012
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The great overhaul -

NRC: "An imminent revolution in Dutch foreign aid?", by Arend Jan Boekestijn

On Monday, the WRR, a Dutch government think tank, presented its long awaited and highly critical report on foreign aid to minister Bert Koenders. Koenders, a humble servant of her majesty, immediately responded by saying he felt the report had "interesting and constructive contributions to offer to the foreign aid debate." I would summarise the rest of his comments as follows: "A number of recommendations in the report might offer me the possibility to modernise foreign aid further, as I started doing at the beginning of my term." (...) >>>


Jan. 20, 2010
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Washington Times: "EDITORIAL: Haiti's voodoo regime - Port-au-Prince ruling class treats people like sacrificial animals"

The death toll in Haiti is climbing in the aftermath of the magnitude 7 earthquake that hit the Caribbean nation Tuesday. Much of the carnage could have been avoided. One can be forgiven for assuming that a country situated next to a geological fault line and in the middle of hurricane alley would have a well-developed set of building codes, but safety has never been a hallmark - or even an afterthought - of Haitian architecture. (...) It's easy to blame poverty for the magnitude of the devastation in Haiti this week, but poverty is the result of poor governance.

The island of Hispaniola provides a useful comparative laboratory in this regard, like the Korean Peninsula or the two Germanys during the Cold War. Haiti is on the western side of the island, and the eastern two-thirds make up the Dominican Republic, a functioning democracy with a relatively strong economy. The 2008 per capita income in the Dominican Republic was $8,200, making it 119th in the world. In Haiti, income was $1,300, ranking 203rd, the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Satellite images of the island clearly show the divide between the two countries because of deforestation and a lackluster agricultural sector on the Haitian side. (...) >>>

Jan. 17, 2010
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Putting it actually to work

Politeia: ""The Price of a Bad Conscience", by Arend Jan Boekestijn (original post in Dutch)

(...) For proper comprehension one must study the new approach laid out by Nobel Prize Laureate and Economic Historian Douglass C. North in cooperation J.J. Wallis, S.B. Webb and B.R. Weingast in a World Bank Paper (4359), suitably entitled 'Limited Access Orders in the Developing World: a new approach to the problems of Development'. Development aid workers of all countries, pay attention now: you are on the verge of experiencing a paradigm shift.

North et al. posit that societies will develop various strategies of reducing violence; and how they are coping is of great influence on their potential for growth and development. Elite infighting has negative economic effects on everyone. In primitive societies of hunter gatherers there's a distinct lack of specialization, but an abundance of violence. That's a drag on a man in the long run.

One needs to give it a rest every once in a while; a good night's sleep in indispensable to that effect. This is how 'primitive societies' develop into' limited access societies'; violence is brought under control by violence specialists contracting not to use force against each other. How do they do this? (...) >>>

Jan 2, 2010
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Mark the thinly veiled sarcasm (awww, they can't help it, they're Socialists) ... while a policy shift may be in the offing, parallel climate funds will remain largely under the radar.

NRC: "Dutch politician asks if aid really aids", by Mark Kranenburg

Arend Jan Boekestijn, a former member of parliament for the right-wing liberal party VVD, presented his long-awaited book about development aid on Thursday. The book, which he has promised will "reveal all" about development aid is tellingly titled: The Price of a Bad Conscience.

Its main tenet: the current tools of the development trade lead to aid-addiction in receiving countries and something needs to be done about it fast. "I fear that development aid in its current form does more harm than it does good," Boekesteijn said on Thursday morning. (...) >>>

Dec. 11, 2009
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Note the sexism now en vogue in Leftist circles ... ah! the intricacies of the Socialist food chain ...

NRC: "Will development aid really change because of Moyo risin'?"

Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo, who advocates scrapping aid to Africa, creates a sensation wherever she goes. Her critics say she is nothing but a media hype, but she is nevertheless an African voice in a debate dominated by white men. (...) Moyo delivered her message in a few strong sentences: "Stop all development aid to African governments. A trillion dollars have not helped. Aid has only corrupted Africa and made it inert."

Her book, Dead Aid, in which she makes the case against development aid, propelled her to The New York Times best sellers list early this year. Time magazine included Moyo (40) among the 100 most influential people on earth. African leaders ask for her advice. Everywhere she goes she creates a sensation (...) >>>

Oct. 9, 2009
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Times: "British aid workers risk arrest in Gaza"
British aid workers distributing medical and food supplies in the West Bank risk being arrested by Israel after it banned five British-based charities operating in Gaza for their alleged links with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group. British citizens and Palestinian volunteers working with the proscribed charities in the West Bank could potentially be arrested by the Israelis for operating with organisations accused of being “fundraising networks” for Hamas, The Times has learnt. The Charity Commission-registered organisations - Muslim Aid, Human Appeal International, Muslim Hands, Human Relief Foundation and Educational Aid for Palestinians - strongly rejected any links with Hamas, and some urged the Government to help to lift the ban. This came as the Israeli Embassy in London gave warning that action would be taken against charity organisations in the Palestinian territories that were considered to be dealing with terrorism groups. (...) >>>


Updated: 5th Sep 2008
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Two Wolves: "The Road to Hell"

Outside my office there are young people collecting for charity. (...) they are collecting for aid in Africa so there are the prerequisite photos of malnourished and diseased infants lining the street. Occasionally I do get cornered by one of these well-meaning people but resist the temptation to lecture them on their naive folly. The road to hell is paved with good intentions (...) little do the well-meaning and generous natured here understand how much they are contributing to the continuation or indeed deepening of that hell. On the one hand you have the multinationals plundering natural resources whilst lining the pockets of corrupt and cruel governments but on the other you have the toxic results of generations of multinational aid that has laid waste to the fabric of several African nations. Controversial Irish Independent columnist Kevin Myers has put it better than I could, its worth repeating in full. "No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again. (...) >>>

Updated: 16th July 2008
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Middle East Forum: "Does Foreign Aid Fuel Palestinian Violence?"

(...) The recent history of foreign assistance shows a distinct correlation between aid and violence. Perhaps aid itself does not cause violence, but there is strong evidence that it contributes to a culture of corruption, government malfeasance, and terrorism that has had lethal consequences for both Israelis and Palestinians over the past decade. The Paris conference aid package continues fifteen years of international funding that has established the Palestinians as one of the world's leading per capita recipients of foreign support (...) Figures published by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development for 2005 show that Palestinians received $304 per person in foreign aid, second only to the war-torn Republic of Congo among entities with populations larger than one million. Unlike the Congo, though, the Palestinians have received such subsidies for decades. (...) >>>

Updated: 30th June 2008
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Atlas Shrugs: "Nuts!"

The more money you give to the Pali Arabs, the higher the death rate. Steve Stotsky over at Camera has correlated "Palestinian" aid and homicides 2000 -2007 here. "Statistics on Palestinian homicides and foreign aid to Gaza and the West Bank reveal that as aid increased to the Palestinian government, so too did the numbers of people (both Israeli and Palestinian) killed by Palestinian militants. At the same time there was an inverse correlation between an increase in foreign aid and Palestinian economic growth"

Hal sent that along and directed my attention to the fascinating graphs in these articles >>>

Updated: 19th Dec. 2007
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BBC: "Palestinians 'win $7bn aid vow'"

Foreign aid of at least $7bn (£3.5bn) has been pledged to the Palestinians at a major donors' conference in Paris, France's foreign minister has said. The figure cited by Bernard Kouchner exceeded the $5.6bn over three years which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had asked for. The pledge by 68 states and organisations came at the biggest such meeting in a decade. The money is earmarked for creating a viable Palestinian state. >>>

... the Palestinians have been on the aid drip since even before its official invention ... it isn't the first time a large cash injection was launched towards the Palestinian eparchy ... the Dutch development aid apparatus built a harbour which was shot to pieces in retaliation of Palestinian 'activities' even before it was operative ... what's the status on the "national airport"? Could it be that the aid drip prolongs the problems in the area, as it does almost everywhere else?

Updated: 18th Dec. 2007
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International Herald Tribune: "Europe, Africa seek to cement new bonds at rare summit"

Europe and Africa aim to set aside their postcolonial grievances at a milestone summit this weekend, hoping a new strategic alignment will bring rewards for both continents. Almost all the leaders from the 27-nation European Union and the 53-member African Union gather Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal for their first summit in seven years. (...) >>>

Updated: 7th Dec. 2007
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Le Québécois Libre: "Why Tariffs Hurt Domestic Industries", by Gennady Stolyarov II
Updated: 3rd Dec. 2007

John Trenchard: "Guess Who Funds the Sudanese Junta?"
Updated: 29th Nov. 2007

Related:

- "The Ethics of Capitalism"
- The Economics and Monetary Dossier