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* [[India]]'s {{WP|Green Revolution}} depended on international aid in its early years.<ref name="SOLIDARITY"/> | * [[India]]'s {{WP|Green Revolution}} depended on international aid in its early years.<ref name="SOLIDARITY"/> | ||
* Malawi, in 2007, has started a program to guarantee vital inputs for the poorest farmers.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2007/lecture4.shtml Reith Lectures 2007 - Lecture 4: Economic Solidarity for a Crowded Planet] - transcript, ''BBC Radio 4''. Based on earlier comments in the lecture, "vital inputs" refers to "high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and small-scale water management techniques".</ref> "Food yields have soared, in a neighborhood of acute food shortages" says Sachs.<ref name="SOLIDARITY"/> | * Malawi, in 2007, has started a program to guarantee vital inputs for the poorest farmers.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2007/lecture4.shtml Reith Lectures 2007 - Lecture 4: Economic Solidarity for a Crowded Planet] - transcript, ''BBC Radio 4''. Based on earlier comments in the lecture, "vital inputs" refers to "high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and small-scale water management techniques".</ref> "Food yields have soared, in a neighborhood of acute food shortages" says Sachs.<ref name="SOLIDARITY"/> | ||
==Foreign aid in comparison to other forms of funding== | |||
Measured simply in terms of size, official development assistance is dwarfed by a number of other sources of funding, including [[remittances]] and [[domestic savings]]. | |||
The real advantage of official development assistance, then, seems to be targeting areas of public need and strategic value which are not currently catered to by these larger aid flows. | |||
==Criticisms of foreign aid== | ==Criticisms of foreign aid== | ||
Revision as of 22:34, 4 February 2008
Successful example of foreign aid
W has argued that "Virtually every country has needed a helping hand at some point. It's a rule of life."[1] Cases which have been claimed as successful examples of foreign aid include:
- India's W depended on international aid in its early years.[1]
- Malawi, in 2007, has started a program to guarantee vital inputs for the poorest farmers.[2] "Food yields have soared, in a neighborhood of acute food shortages" says Sachs.[1]
Foreign aid in comparison to other forms of funding
Measured simply in terms of size, official development assistance is dwarfed by a number of other sources of funding, including remittances and domestic savings.
The real advantage of official development assistance, then, seems to be targeting areas of public need and strategic value which are not currently catered to by these larger aid flows.
Criticisms of foreign aid
- Flight capital: if a government is corrupt then the country's wealth may be stolen by corrupt officials, even leave the country as flight capital:
- This may happen with the country's own wealth, in which case it is sometimes argued that this is a more important issue than foreign aid levels.
- Aid money itself may also be subject to theft in this way. However, when the aid is given in the form of goods and services (such as W this is obviously impossible, or at least much more difficult.[3]
Jeffrey Sachs characterized some criticisms of foreign aid, and refuted it, saying:
- there seems to be a pervasive misunderstanding, and that is that we're already doing so much, but we're not doing what they want. And this is absolutely not the case, we're doing so little, and also not what they want. That's the point.<ref name="SOLIDARITY">/
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Reith Lectures 2007 - Lecture 4: Economic Solidarity for a Crowded Planet - BBC Radio 4.
- ↑ Reith Lectures 2007 - Lecture 4: Economic Solidarity for a Crowded Planet - transcript, BBC Radio 4. Based on earlier comments in the lecture, "vital inputs" refers to "high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and small-scale water management techniques".
- ↑ Reith Lectures 2007 - Lecture 4: Economic Solidarity for a Crowded Planet - transcript, BBC Radio 4. Note the exchange between Karl Ziegler (emphasizing the importance of flight capital as the key issue, rather than aid) and Jeffrey Sachs (arguing that flight capital does not negate the need for aid or the effective of aid).
Interwiki links
- Content which is not suitable for Appropedia can be placed at Issuepedia:Foreign aid (not created yet). Please help to ensure that links are placed between relevant pages on the two wikis.
External links
- Is Foreign Aid Really Working in Africa?, 2006-02-09. Blog post at Kevin in Liberia, (kevin , with further discussion in comments