“Sometimes the most generous thing you can do is just say no”
Dead Aid, the title of the book by Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo, is an obvious slap in the face of Bob Geldof, Bono, and the other jet-setting celebrities who performed at Live Aid. Her recent interview in The New York Times is headlined “The Anti-Bono” and the first question asks if she has ever met the Irish rock star.
Q: As a native of Zambia with advanced degrees in public policy and economics from Harvard and Oxford, you are about to publish an attack on Western aid to Africa and its recent glamorization by celebrities. ‘‘Dead Aid,’’ as your book is called, is particularly hard on rock stars. Have you met Bono?
I have, yes, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year. It was at a party to raise money for Africans, and there were no Africans in the room, except for me.
[…]
What do you think has held back Africans?I believe it’s largely aid. You get the corruption — historically, leaders have stolen the money without penalty — and you get the dependency, which kills entrepreneurship. You also disenfranchise African citizens, because the government is beholden to foreign donors and not accountable to its people.
If people want to help out, what do you think they should do with their money if not make donations?
Microfinance. Give people jobs.
[…]
For all your belief in the potential of capitalism, the free market is now in free fall and everyone is questioning the supposed wonders of the unregulated market.I wish we questioned the aid model as much as we are questioning the capitalism model. Sometimes the most generous thing you can do is just say no.
Billions of dollars in government-to-government foreign aid has brought Africa no apparent benefit; indeed, Dr Moyo argues that aid has obstructed economic growth and made the poor even poorer. Asian economies have prospered with little outside financial help, while Africa has stagnated.
Dead Aid is now available in the UK. It is scheduled to be released in North America next month.
h/t: Paul Tuns at Sobering Thoughts