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 21 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 06:25:08 PM May 17, 2013 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 05:57:06 PM May 17, 2013 from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
- “I thought you were here to help.” http://t.co/z7hbKP8RtX via @NYTimes 05:29:12 PM May 17, 2013 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 05:03:40 PM May 17, 2013 from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
Monthly Archives: January 2011
Double Standards Brigade Goes to Egypt
UPDATE 8:45am 2/2/11: NYT: US policy is stuck one step behind popular movement for democracy
Update 5pm: Joe Biden, oops I mean Hosni Mubarak, says he will not run for re-election in Egypt
UPDATE 8:45AM: much heavier heavyweights with similar criticisms of Double Standards (see end of post)
I want to thank all the major world leaders who have worked so hard during the past few days to confirm my own personal thesis that…
Davos Man meets Girl
UPDATE 12:40 pm: Readers point us to an example of a “girl-focused” campaign gone badly awry. The Girl Store markets school supplies in an extremely creepy and objectifying video that asks you to “Buy a girl before someone else does.” Sign a petition against this campaign here.
–
In the new issue of the e-journal Contestations, Rosalind Eybens asks, What is Happening to Donor Support for Women’s Rights?:
Recent years have seen a
…
Posted in Women and gender 10 Comments
Hillary opts for lame “transition” jargon on Egypt
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced today a new US government position on Egypt, calling for a ‘transition to a democratic regime.’ This was also the old US government position on Egypt.
As this blog has pointed out, the “transition” word is a much-used device to appear to be in favor of democracy while in fact taking no position whatsoever. The democracy scholar Thomas Carothers is one who first pointed out the emptiness…
Posted in Democracy and freedom, Language 14 Comments
Poetry of the Arab Revolt
Many sources have been quoting the Tunisian poet Abul-Qasim al-Shabi (died 1934).
One of his most famous poems was “To the Tyrants of the World“
Hey you, the unfair tyrants…
…You kept walking while you were deforming the charm of existence and growing seeds of sadness in their land
Wait, don’t let the spring, the clearness of the sky and the shine of the morning light fool you…
Because the darkness, the thunder rumble
…
Please let the World Bank know that something might be happening in Arab countries
UPDATE: heard from @worldbank, see below
On the Bank web site:
The Development News is a summary of current news collected by the World Bank and published each business day.
The Development News on Friday January 28, 2011 mentions violence or political conflict in the following countries: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Haiti
Number of references to any news happening in any Arab country:
zero
The lead story yesterday:
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
…
Arab masses 9519; Davos elite 435
Scoreboard update 3pm EST, 1/28/11: Arab masses 11778; Davos elite 257
Posted in Democracy and freedom, Human rights, In the news 5 Comments
The parable of uneven growth
You’re in a multi-lane tunnel, all lanes in the same direction, and you’re caught in a serious traffic jam. After a while, the cars in the other lane begin to move. Do you feel better or worse?
Though it may sound like a description of New York traffic after last night’s snow storm, this is in fact NYU Economics Professor Debraj Ray’s analogy (adapted from Albert Hirschman’s early work on economic development) about the response…
Posted in Academic research 12 Comments
Skeptics and thermostats
UPDATE 12:50PM: Please assume I’m an idiot (see end of post)
Many have suffered from being in a building where there was a centralized thermostat for the whole building (or the whole floor), with the predictable result that some rooms are way too hot or way too cold. (Sounds like a metaphor, watch for it…)
Things were even more extreme in the former Soviet Union, where there were centralized heating plants for a whole city, and the hot…
Posted in Big ideas, Economics principles 26 Comments
Cool maps: Measuring growth from outer space
For many of the world’s poorest countries, figures measuring economic growth are unreliable, and in some cases they don’t exist at all. In an NBER working paper, Brown University professors J. Vernon Henderson, Adam Storeygard, and David N. Weil came up with an interesting proxy for GDP growth: the amount of light that can be seen from outer space.
Of course, the light intensities pictured in this world map reflect both income and population density. The…
Posted in Academic research, Data and statistics, Maps 20 Comments
Don’t forget the Congolese who helped tell the Congo story
When Western journalists report from the front lines in Africa, the reader may not be aware how much these reporters depend on Africans as sources, guides, translators, fixers, and intermediaries.
The curtain has just parted a bit to see one of these locals, a Congolese hero who helped get the story of the Congo out to the rest of the world (quoting CPJ):
Pastor Marrion P’Udongo has been called the “Oskar Schindler” of Congo…In
…