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Monthly Archives: August 2010

Help the world’s poor: Buy some new clothes

By Guest Blogger | Published August 31, 2010

This is a guest post written by Benjamin Powell, an assistant professor of Economics at Suffolk University and a Senior Economist with the Beacon Hill Institute.  He is the editor of Making Poor Nations Rich, and is currently writing a book entitled No Sweat: How Sweatshops Improve Lives and Economic Growth.

Back to school shopping leads many people to buy apparel that was made in sweatshops. Rather than feel guilty for “exploiting”…

Posted in Academic research, Trade | 26 Comments

Turning over Aid Watch management for a week

By William Easterly | Published August 30, 2010

Dear Aid Watchers,

Both Laura and I are away for a week starting today.

I am cutting off the Internet entirely for a week in a bid to regain my sanity, so anything addressed to me in any Net medium (email, Twitter, Facebook, blog comments) I will not see for a week.

In the absence of Laura and I, DRI post-doc Adam Martin has generously agreed to take over as Guest Editor for a week, beginning with…

Posted in Meta | 2 Comments

Constructivist cartography

By Adam Martin | Published August 30, 2010

The development blogosphere recently lit up with news of South Sudan’s plan to rebuild some of its urban centers in the shape of various animals.

The plan elicited no shortage of guffaws, as is appropriate. But in the interest of maintaining AidWatch’s contrarian reputation, this post argues that we should be careful about focusing our ridicule on the Sudanese. Criticism should to be leveled at the appropriate target: cartography!

Posted in Grand plans and aid targets, In the news, Maps | Tagged | 7 Comments

Africans do not want or need Britain’s development aid

By Administrator | Published August 29, 2010

Editor’s note: This letter was published in the Telegraph (UK) on August 22, 2010 with the title given above for this post.

SIR – The parlous state of the public finances in Britain provides the perfect opportunity for British taxpayers to end their half-century-long experiment with “development aid”, which has, since its inception, stunted growth and subsidised bad governance in Africa.

As Africans, we urge the generous-spirited British to reconsider an aid

…

Posted in Aid debates, Financing development | Tagged , , , , | 42 Comments

The battle for the dream

By William Easterly | Published August 28, 2010

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream

…

Posted in History | Tagged | 7 Comments

Pete Boettke: economist extraordinaire

By William Easterly | Published August 28, 2010

The WSJ has a well-deserved, laudatory profile of Peter Boettke of George Mason University. The Journal stresses mainly his role in the Hayek vs. Keynes debate. I have learned from him in the area of Hayek vs. central planning, the subject more relevant to my own interests in long-run development. He is also a generous colleague and friend. Congrats, Pete!

Posted in In the news | 3 Comments

Transparency International clarifies the debate, deplores attacks on Till Bruckner

By Administrator | Published August 27, 2010

Editor’s note: Transparency International Georgia submitted this contribution to the debate originally sparked by Till Bruckner’s post The accidental NGO and USAID transparency test.

We at TI Georgia have closely followed this debate about whether and to what extent USAID and its NGO contractors should make their budgets public. Till Bruckner began his quest for answers while he was working with us in 2008-09, although his pursuit of the NGO budgets via FOIA requests…

Posted in Accountability and transparency | Tagged | 7 Comments

I have a dream: the Powerpoint aid jargon version

By William Easterly | Published August 27, 2010

Recycled this on Huffington Post for tomorrow’s 47th anniversary of MLK’s greatest speech of all time.

Posted in Satire and parodies | 3 Comments

This just in: there was a flood in Pakistan

By William Easterly | Published August 27, 2010

We have chronicled here on Aid Watch how media coverage of disasters influences disasters, and how late the US media has been to the story of the disastrous flood in Pakistan, with apparently anemic donor response as a result.

Puzzlement deepened this morning at 7:30 am when I picked up my NYT off my doorstep and saw the four column front-page headline: Much of Pakistan’s Progress is Lost in Its Floodwaters.  The NYT devotes…

Posted in Disaster relief, In the news, Maps | Tagged , | 2 Comments

NGO Transparency: Counterpart International to release budget

By Administrator | Published August 26, 2010

Editor’s note: Aid Watch received the following statement from Counterpart International in response to a request for comment on Till Bruckner’s post The accidental NGO and USAID transparency test.

We have checked our records regarding Mr. Bruckner’s FOIA request to USAID for information about our Georgia program budget. Our server logs indicate that USAID’s attempt in June to contact us about this FOIA request was unsuccessful because the message was sent to two former Counterpart…

Posted in Accountability and transparency | Tagged | 9 Comments