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...
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Archives
Bill Easterly tweets
- Why are they singing pro-Confederacy song "Maryland, my Maryland" at Preakness horse race? about 41 minutes ago from Twitter for iPad ReplyRetweetFavorite
- RT @hangingnoodles: "a self-satirizing plan…pouring in money to a fictional government” http://t.co/K9yCiLgs06 @bill_easterly NYT on Mali … 09:29:12 PM May 17, 2013 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
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
Tag Archives: Davos
Aid Watch Rerun: And Now For Something Completely Different: Davos Features “Refugee Run”
NOTE FROM THE EDITORS: Over the holidays, we’ll be publishing reruns of some of our posts from the first 2 years of Aid Watch. This post originally ran on Jan 28, 2008, and attracted a firestorm of comments, passionately for and against the idea. There will be a similar event again this year at Davos.
When somebody sent me this invitation from Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, I thought at first
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Posted in Aid debates, Badvocacy and celebs, Human rights, Stereotypes Also tagged Aid Watch Rerun, Refugee Run 2 Comments
What the World’s Leaders did on their Winter Vacation: Nothing
Mark Thoma has a different take on Davos than our little dust-up on this blog about Refugee Run:
Faced with the opportunity of a generation to fix global finances, the world’s most powerful people went skiing.
Perhaps @amonck would like to start a dialogue with Professor Thoma?
Maybe I can “help.” I think Davos has always been oversold as a global problem-solver, in the same category as G-7 summits. There is no good historical evidence…
Refugee Run Redux at Davos: the UNHCR displaced?
A year ago this blog featured an invitation to Experience Life as a Refugee at Davos. Some commentators and myself criticized the Refugee Run as an insensitive fund-raising event by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR listened to the criticism — and repeated the event this year at Davos. (HT Rex Brynen at PAXSIMS.)
The Refugee Run provides a snapshot of the often terrifying ordeal suffered by people forced to flee their homes because
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Did Bill and Melinda Gates Claim Malaria Victories Based on Phony Numbers?
Tuesday’s Financial Times printed a Martin Wolf interview with the Gateses from Davos, available as a video on the FT web site.
A sample quote from the interview:
We’re trying to make sure that people understand this: aid is effective…So, for instance, malaria incidence is down in countries such as Zambia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. It’s down in some countries by over 50 percent and some by 60 percent…[if we and other donors] come
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Posted in Data and statistics, Global health Also tagged aid effectiveness, Bill and Melinda Gates, malaria, WHO 15 Comments
I Call Your Authenticity, and I Raise You One Ideology
People sometimes try to win a debate by playing “trump cards” that allegedly overturn any other argument, instead of practicing reasoned arguments based on logic, common sense, and evidence.
One attempted “trump card” is that an “authentic” member of group X is in favor of a certain policy towards group X. The hidden assumption is that any “authentic” member of group X can speak for all other members of group X, and knows what is…
Posted in Cognitive biases Also tagged Dambisa Moyo, Financial Times, Refugee Run, trump cards 22 Comments
And Now For Something Completely Different: Davos Features “Refugee Run”
When somebody sent me this invitation from Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, I thought at first it was a joke from the Onion. What do you think of the Davos rich and powerful going through the “Refugee Run” theme park re-enactment of life in a refugee camp?
Can Davos man empathize with refugees when he or she is not in danger and is going back to a luxury banquet and…