Comments for Aid Watch

Comment on Could aid revive business instead of stamping it out? by J.

J. — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:48:22 +0000

Talking a bit off the top of my head here…

As I remember it, the original intent of the kind of aid that (I guess) is being discussed was to target the “bottom rung”, the “poorest of the poor”, those who in theory were below the range that could reasonably be expected to benefit from small, local for-profit sector development. But by the late 1990’s it seemed clear that the “poorest of the poor” were, well, not ideal candidates for small business development and micro-credit schemes. Rather than re-tool programming models to address the specific needs of the poorest, most NGOs simply shifted their targetting to those segments of the beneficiary populations who were more ideal candidates. Apparently with the result complained about in this book.

In my opinion, it is probably time for NGOs to re-think micro-credit.

Comment on When financial crises are devastating to a country’s long-run prospects by Lorenzo from Oz

Lorenzo from Oz — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:21:34 +0000

Carmen's (1) and (2) categories are not necessarily separate: were the delays in recovering from the Depression a result of policy decisions? World_Bandit: if you want intelligent Fed-bashing (and that is a sport we can all get behind, surely) then it is hard to go past Scott Sumner's MoneyIllusion blog.

Comment on When financial crises are devastating to a country’s long-run prospects by Dan Kyba

Dan Kyba — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:30:09 +0000

A second opinion never hurts. When conducting your evaluation of the financial crisis, you might want to look at it from a quasi-outsider’s perspective – in this case Canadian. The book is ‘Black Markets and Business Blues’ by Yvan Allaire and Mihaela Firsirotu. http://www.fipressmontreal.com/Blak_Markets.html

Comment on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? by Ehui

Ehui — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:14:57 +0000

About the pedophiles , I am not sure whether the Ghana Tourist Board expects to deter them with that sign, but there have been several reports of pedophiles (and registered sex offenders in their respective countries) visiting Ghana and taking advantage of children in tourist towns.

Comment on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? by Sam Gardner

Sam Gardner — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:06:01 +0000

Of course, every income counts for a developing country, but what surprises me most with tourism is that it seldom leads to sustainable and diverse development. A large part of the income of the tourism industry goes back to buy for the luxury products tourists crave. Moreover, it creates kind of a poverty trap. Young people can have jobs coming out of primary education (some language is an asset) at a decent salary, that is basically flat for the rest of your life, as productivity rises only marginally in tourism. Studying seems like a waste of time for those youngsters. A lot of tourist destinations are equally long – term underdeveloped regions, even in the North.

Comment on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? by Henning

Henning — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:03:55 +0000

Bill, what do you think about poverty being part of the tourism experience? Many people travelling to SSA will see the poverty as one of the “attractions”.

Comment on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? by Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:44:08 +0000

I think the big problem with Mole is the lack of big cats. If Mole had huge lion prides it would be packed with luxury, high priced lodges.

I think that the vast majority of people who go to Africa who also go to national parks, want to see a Lion, a Leopard or a Cheetah.

Not my opinion, but I think that this is pretty common and sometimes its just that simple.

Comment on When financial crises are devastating to a country’s long-run prospects by Word_Bandit

Word_Bandit — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:14:31 +0000

Interesting.

Though using the nomenclature “non-catastrophe” belies a great deal, even if one invokes the “long term.”

Suggests no on the ground perspective, and, dare I write, typical of someone not writing from the ground.

Same perspective which keeps the Fed a good year and a half behind the game in declaring “a recession.”

While I respect the need for empirical data, there is a huge problem waiting the number crunchers to do their thing at the desk while the disaffected suffer.

And of course, this discussion also ignores what might be driving the “off no real consequence” growth …. policies, habits, and the like that may actually have devastating and counter productive “long run” effects …..

Just one lay persons perspective, and probably of no value to this specialized audience.

Comment on When financial crises are devastating to a country’s long-run prospects by Tweets that mention When financial crises are devastating to a country’s long-run prospects -- Topsy.com

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:07:16 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by William Easterly, Phil Izzo and Conduit Journal, La Osamenta. La Osamenta said: RT @bill_easterly: When financial crises ARE devastating to a country's long run prospects (Q&A with Carmen Reinhart) http://bit.ly/a55V1d [...]

Comment on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? by Conor Godfrey

Conor Godfrey — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:33:32 +0000

Dear group,

I am curious what you think of marketing Africa as a single tourist destination vs. launching country specific campaigns. While I realize that promoting Africa as a homogeneous unit is absurd on one level, smart marketing might be able to enlist that stereotype to generate more business. Paul Cohen, the president of a travel marketing firm, makes that case well at http://tinyurl.com/265q2tc.

I am undecided..what do you all think?