Fixing Poverty & Feeding the World
“[A] consensus that emerged decades ago was that foreign aid had not been effective in reversing Africa’s economic decline…. And it is not just Africa. That foreign aid has failed to accelerate economic development in the Third World generally was also accepted. In 1999, the United Nations declared that 70 countries — aid recipients all — are now poorer than they were in 1980. An incredible 43 were worse off than in 1970. ‘Chaos, slaughter, poverty and ruin stalked Third World states, irrespective of how much foreign assistance they received,’ wrote the Washington Post, on Nov. 25, 1999. Except for Haiti, all of the 13 foreign aid failures cited [in the Post article] — Somalia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, Chad, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zaire, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Sudan — were in Sub-Saharan Africa. The African countries that received the most aid — Somalia, Liberia and Zaire — slid into virtual anarchy.”
— Development Economist George B.N. Ayittey
Development economist George Ayittey is straightforward about the failure of past aid programs to cure poverty: “The general consensus among African development analysts is that foreign aid to Africa has not been effective…. The continent is littered with a multitude of ‘black elephants’ (basilicas, grandiose monuments, grand conference halls, and show airports) amid institutional decay, crumbling infrastructure, and environmental degradation. Further, structural adjustment loans from the World Bank and the IMF made little impact on poverty reduction in Africa.”
His contention has plenty of backing. For instance, Jason Sorens points out in his 2007 article “Development and the Political Economy of Foreign Aid” that the best argument that defenders of aid can deliver for their side is to point to projects that have succeeded that have an aid component. In reality, aid has not “caused subsequent increases in GDP per capita. In only one country (Israel) has development aid had the intended effects on growth…. Up-to-date, peer-reviewed global studies of the effects of foreign aid on growth usually find either no generally positive relationship or even a slight negative relationship.” Because aid is diverted by government officials, it increases corruption in countries. Aid goes toward wasteful public consumption, and “inhibits beneficial policy reforms.” Donor countries usually have motives other than helping the poor, so they don’t hold the recipient countries accountable for how the money is used. (America gave aid to corrupt poor countries for taking our side in the Cold War and the War on Terror.)
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