About Aid Watch
The Aid Watch blog is a project of New York University's Development Research Institute (DRI). This blog is principally written by William Easterly, author of "The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics" and "The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good," and Professor of Economics at NYU. It is co-written by Laura Freschi and by occasional guest bloggers. Our work is based on the idea that more aid will reach the poor the more people are watching aid.
"Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking." - H.L. Mencken
Recent Comments
- Rukmini on Aid Watch blog ends; New work on development begins : This has been a valuable resource for me and I’m sorry to see it...
- Jesse on From Hell to Prosperity: I would like to see this graph with a comparative one which shows the number of people in each religion...
- Ellie on Aid Watch blog ends; New work on development begins : Sad to see you go, but I certainly respect the decision. Hope it is...
- Vivek Nemana on From Hell to Prosperity: Jeff, Well, the billionaire effect might explain a disproportionately high mean income, but...
- M on Aid Watch blog ends; New work on development begins : I agree that Bill and Laura should think about how they can get their message...
- Mr. Econotarian on Are Lax US Gun Laws Spilling Violence into Mexico? : The paper says: “DHS data gives the number of illegal...
Archives
Bill Easterly tweets
- RT @hangingnoodles: "a self-satirizing plan…pouring in money to a fictional government” http://t.co/K9yCiLgs06 @bill_easterly NYT on Mali … about 19 hours ago from Twitter for iPad ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Good article on aid to Mali, even though I'm quoted http://t.co/1aWi9mjWAo 02:03:59 PM May 17, 2013 from bitly ReplyRetweetFavorite
- RT @dandrezner: Um... http://t.co/R8U5P6jbid MT @bill_easterly Thoughtful, well-written critique of Krugman anti-austerity crusade http://t… 06:43:31 PM May 16, 2013 from Twitter for iPad ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Thoughtful and well-written critique of the Krugman anti-austerity crusade http://t.co/3dAjHsz5WN 02:19:33 PM May 16, 2013 from bitly ReplyRetweetFavorite
Aid Watch tweets
- Where is the line between marketing social impact and exploitation? | http://t.co/YTc7AoLRMc via @Thehumanosphere about 22 hours ago from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Why the rise in global trade may have less to do with policy and more to do with metal boxes. http://t.co/QN6uw0wLys via @TheEconomist about 22 hours ago from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
- “I thought you were here to help.” http://t.co/z7hbKP8RtX via @NYTimes about 23 hours ago from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
- African traders flocked to Guangzhou for the cheap goods but are staying to run manufacturing operations http://t.co/gK7jmSS3qW via @qz about 23 hours ago from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
Monthly Archives: September 2009
Afghanistan
Maybe I have a biased selection, but it seems like every sensible economist, political scientist, development worker, and journalist that I know thinks our current course in Afghanistan can have only one outcome — disaster. Disaster for Americans, for our NATO allies, AND for Afghans.
Why is nobody listening?
Posted in In the news 12 Comments
Explaining Slavic female tennis comparative advantage mystery
A reader had a provocative explanation, posted as an anonymous comment on the blog post on the Slavic tennis women mystery:
Soviet-bloc eugenics. If you look at the biographies of the Russian tennis players, like Kuznetsova and Petrova, they are the product of the marriage of two Olympic athletes.
Nadia Petrova: Petrova’s father Victor was a leading hammer thrower, while her mother Nadezhda Ilyina won a bronze medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the
…
Posted in Economics principles 5 Comments
Links to Make You Think
If a group of lions is a “pride,” a group of development professionals is a ________.
More and more mzungus (whites) fall truly, madly, deeply in love with Africa. (via Scarlett Lion)
Book-burner to be new head of UN education and culture efforts (UNESCO)? We wonder if the UNESCO Sex Ed book that Chris Blattman satirized might be the first to go on the bonfire under new management.
None of…
Posted in In the news 9 Comments
Africa desperately needs trade links: a pictorial essay
In all the debates about free trade, we can forget sometimes that international trade is not optional for a very small, very poor country. If there are any kinds of returns to scale at all in many sectors, and casual observation and much research suggests there are, then a tiny domestic market will rule out any serious domestic production in many, many sectors (is the Gambia going to be making refrigerators any time soon?) So…
Posted in Big ideas, Economics principles, Maps 20 Comments
Supermodel vows to stay naked till USAID funds reach starving children
Supermodel Miranda Kerr posed nude on the cover of Rolling Stone, announcing she would not put her clothes back on until USAID funds reached starving children affected by the drought in East Africa. She criticized USAID for tying aid to purchases from American farmers and shipping companies, leading to delays of many months in food reaching famine victims, causing thousands of premature deaths.
Oh, we can only dream. Sorry, this post is fake.…
Posted in Badvocacy and celebs 12 Comments
Harvard President’s proposed fix for The University: more Bad Economics?
Drew Gilpin Faust writes on “The University’s Crisis of Purpose” in the current NYT book review. Most of the essay is superb, about not just justifying college education by its vocational payoff, but also the study of truth & beauty for their own sakes.
I liked also this: “Universities are meant to be producers not just of knowledge but also of (often inconvenient) doubt…to serve…as society’s critic and conscience.” (wow, thanks for justifying my own…
Posted in Economics principles 7 Comments
Slavic Tennis Women and Aid Agency Specializations
A recent post talked about the advantages of specialization in general, and for aid agencies in particular. But what should you specialize in? Obviously, in your “comparative advantage,” which is economists’ laborious jargon for “what you’re good at.” But where does comparative advantage come from and how do you find your own?
These thoughts were prompted by watching US Open tennis on TV, where anyone who can read their –ova’s and –ieva’s is struck…
Posted in Economics principles Tagged Bill and Melinda Gates, Malcom Gladwell, Marginal Revolution 17 Comments
Good news: Aid agencies are beginning to catch the dumb-as-rocks projects
The NYT recently ran an article chronicling the failure of the now-abandoned Women’s World Market, a 2007 donor-funded mall on the outskirts of Kabul. The project was set up with money from GTZ, the German bilateral aid agency, the small business arm of USAID, and the private savings of an Afghan entrepreneur.
Beyonce’s Secret for Greater Aid Effectiveness
One of the oldest ideas in economics is gains from specialization. Adam Smith talked about it 233 years ago. All of us are good at a small number of things and suck at most everything else. The economy as a whole produces more because we each specialize in what we do best and then trade with everyone else.
We see Beyoncé specializing in music videos, which she trades to Bill Gates for his specialized production…
Posted in Big ideas, Economics principles 18 Comments