Comments on: Famine Cover-Ups vs. Fake Famines

By: Defining famine « Things Seen and Heard…

Defining famine « Things Seen and Heard… — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:27:03 +0000

[...] Aid Watch blog (which occasionally gets a little smug but is usually pretty good), Bill Easterly bemoans the famine troika of exaggerating NGOs, defensive governments and credulous media which makes it “tragically [...]

By: Tom V

Tom V — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:29:18 +0000

Bill – do you have more to go on besides “people you talked to not allied with the government.” Logically, I’m inclined to agree with you here (as is true in most situations), but I despise the personal anecdote as proof, whether it’s in development or presidential debates. I’m sure the famine mongerers could easily come up with a long list of “people not allied with the government” who would say there is a famine.

By: Ben Parker

Ben Parker — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:34:54 +0000

Ah. The Independent could not let the Times have that famine to itself.

Now it *stalks*: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/feed-the-world-band-aid-25-years-on-1825385.html

By: Ben Parker

Ben Parker — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:25:08 +0000

Let’s track who actually is calling it a famine, (or maybe a famine). So far we have Aid Watch and the sub-editor at the London Times who pimped up the 18th November headline?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6920816.ece

By: Sunday Africa Blog Roundup: Somali Pirates, Ethiopia Famine, Africans in China « Sahel Blog

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:05:48 +0000

[...] Easterly and Laura Freschi ask whether Ethiopia is having a famine. As often is the case, there are two forces pulling in opposite directions that make it hard to [...]

By: links for 2009-11-20 | FutureWorks Research

links for 2009-11-20 | FutureWorks Research — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:03:20 +0000

[...] Famine Cover-Ups vs. Fake Famines (tags: aid famine africa ethiopia) [...]

By: » Invented Famines Esther Garvi: aka Ishtar News

» Invented Famines Esther Garvi: aka Ishtar News — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:18:24 +0000

[...] Easterly, professor of Economics at the New York university, recently posted a piece entitled “Famine Cover-Ups vs. Fake Famines”. The Famine Scam that took place in Niger [...]

By: Lords of Poverty? « Beyond the Borders

Lords of Poverty? « Beyond the Borders — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:40:37 +0000

[...] on the ground it’s difficult to know whether the headline is accurate – see also Bill Easterly’s most recent blog. Anyway, the word on the street is that while there are food shortages and efforts do need to be [...]

By: D. Watson

D. Watson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:39:21 +0000

Two points. 1) See O’Grada’s JEL paper on “Making Famine History” (Working Paper version)

2) I recognize your point is about the incentives of the organizations charged with reported whether there is a famine or not. A different but related question is: what’s the difference? If a national government or a donor agency or you and I could have prevented a death by emergency famine and chose not to, are we less morally culpable than if we could have prevented a death by chronic hunger and chose not to? Are famine sufferers in some way more worthy of our sympathy than other people who suffer from hunger?

The distinction between the two kinds of death is important for knowing what we need to do to prevent them – flying/shipping/trucking in emergency food aid or investing in longer-term solutions like infrastructure and agricultural research. But in terms of “knowing when tragedy is happening” we already know that: ongoing, daily, and silently. The question is more if a tragedy that we care to acknowledge is happening.

By: keeping them honest, Aid Watch style « Opalo’s weblog

keeping them honest, Aid Watch style « Opalo’s weblog — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:13:55 +0000

[...] front, Oromiya, Oromo Lliberation Front, Somalia For those into famines and famine politics, here’s one for [...]