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2 Comments on this article:

Report as: spam offensive J on 5/20/08 at 9am

Why has the Editorial Board been so lazy this quarter? They keep taking days off.

Report as: spam offensive good article on 5/20/08 at 10am

I have exactly the same questions as you, though I have not studied this issue in any rigorous or academic way. Perhaps development efforts in Africa are overwhelmed by the ills of the first world's exploiting the continent for the last several hundred years. First-world countries pour money into African countries to buy oil and other natural resources. This money has no strings attached, and so it often goes straight to corrupt governments, making them stronger. With money coming from abroad, a corrupt government has little incentive to make its economy healthy and therefore useful to the citizens of the country -- no need to develop manufacturing, advanced agricultural practices, a health care infrastructure to support workers, and so on.
But that doesn't mean we should give up. In my opinion, there are at least two lessons from the foregoing speculation: (1) first-world consumers need to pay attention to where natural resources are coming from and (2) development aid can work in countries with reasonably healthy infrastructures. For example, I think it's reasonable to say that altruistic work in the U.S. -- working for the poor, working in tough inner cities -- has measurable beneficial consequences.




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