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
- So sorry to hear about Turkey violence; Sympathy to the victims and to the cause of democracy. http://t.co/q3aMGKqJnt 07:01:19 PM June 11, 2013 from bitly ReplyRetweetFavorite
- I'm a little unclear on how they established causality from the Chicago mayor to the murder rate http://t.co/lASzN2F7G8 06:12:10 PM June 11, 2013 from bitly ReplyRetweetFavorite
- The Natural Effort to Better One’s Conditions - can't miss event tomorrow http://t.co/gnjUehxZIk 09:28:43 PM June 10, 2013 from bitly ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Hello, our government, this is a good moment to explain just what democratic checks and balances do now constrain the NSA. 05:12:56 PM June 10, 2013 from web ReplyRetweetFavorite
Aid Watch tweets
- Whoa. "Is this the most beautiful excel spreadsheet in history?" http://t.co/EEWpAQQHIG via @cblatts 09:10:05 PM June 11, 2013 from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
- "The drug war in Mexico has claimed twice as many lives than the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan" http://t.co/5PBheCCpvA via @Guardian 08:50:13 PM June 11, 2013 from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Some harsh, and debatable, statements: "Africa's Lesson in Self-Reliance" http://t.co/L0cKQn0Cmh via @nytimes 08:21:03 PM June 11, 2013 from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Every rose has its thorn. Some roses also have toxic chemicals and sexual abuse. http://t.co/NBMk2gm2GD via @TheHumanosphere 01:03:10 PM June 11, 2013 from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
Tag Archives: nation building
We have met the enemy and he is powerpoint: NYT on the military
The New York Times had a front pager today on a story that this blog (twice: Dec 22, 2009 and Dec 12, 2009 ) and other blogs has been all over for months – the use of nonsensical Powerpoint slides to guide the US military in Afghanistan. The NYT reproduced the infamous Afghan nation-building spaghetti chart over most of the front page:
“PowerPoint makes us stupid,” Gen. James N. Mattis of
…
Posted in Democracy and freedom, In the news, Military aid Also tagged Afghanistan, New York Times 12 Comments
What’s so hard about nation-building?
From today’s NYT
Top 5 reasons why “failed state” is a failed concept
1) “State failure” is leading to confused policy making.
For example, it is causing the military to attempt overly ambitious nation-building and development to approach counter-terrorism, under the unproven assumption that “failed states” produce terrorism.
2) “State failure” has failed to produce any useful academic research in economics.
You would expect a major concept to be the subject of research by economists (as well as by other fields, but I am using economics research…
Posted in Aid policies and approaches, Military aid Also tagged failed states, military intervention 18 Comments