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
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Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Lorenzo from Oz on When financial crises are devastating to a country’s long-run prospects: Carmen’s (1) and (2) categories...
- Dan Kyba on When financial crises are devastating to a country’s long-run prospects: A second opinion never hurts. When conducting...
- Ehui on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? : About the pedophiles , I am not sure whether the Ghana Tourist...
- Sam Gardner on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? : Of course, every income counts for a developing country,...
- Henning on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? : Bill, what do you think about poverty being part of the...
- Andrew on African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? : I think the big problem with Mole is the lack of big cats. If...
Archives
Bill Easterly tweets
- When financial crises ARE devastating to a country's long run prospects (Q&A with Carmen Reinhart) http://bit.ly/a55V1d about 14 hours ago from bitly
- African tourism great potential vs. white elephant? This time the comments are better than the original post. http://bit.ly/cRc8l4 about 16 hours ago from bitly
- @BloomsburyUSA yes 08:15:26 PM July 28, 2010 from Twittelatorin reply to BloomsburyUSA
- African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? http://bit.ly/cRc8l4 05:47:56 PM July 28, 2010 from bitly
Aid Watch tweets
- RT @MollyKinder Pew Pakistan poll: US still hated, economic worries more intense, and confusion over US aid. http://tiny.cc/4p7kv. about 6 hours ago from web
- Today's post: When financial crises ARE devastating to a country's long run prospects (Q&A with Carmen Reinhart) http://bit.ly/a55V1d about 10 hours ago from web
- RT @intldogooder Have been pulling together links on existing aid reform efforts here: http://www.how-matters.org/links-resources/ about 11 hours ago from web
- Today's post: African Tourism projects: great potential or white elephants? http://bit.ly/cRc8l4 06:24:49 PM July 28, 2010 from web
Tag Archives: Jeffrey Sachs
Jeff Sachs’ intellectual empire gets new funding
There’s a new way to study development: a masters degree in the practice of development.
The MacArthur Foundation announced ten universities to receive funding for the new degree program yesterday, bringing the funding from MacArthur for this project to $16 million. The first students matriculated at Columbia University in 2009, and by 2013 the foundation expects the programs to be producing 400 graduates a year from around the world.
The two-year degree is multidisciplinary—the…
Posted in Grand plans/ aid targets, In the news
Also tagged Columbia, Earth Institute, MacArthur Foundation, Millennium Development Goals
12 Comments
Criticism of Sachs video withdrawn
The links in our post Another blog criticizes a video by a certain famous economist have gone dead, and the critical post on the other blog site has been deleted. They made this statement in direct communication:
The original post author has deleted the post, finding his words a bit too harsh and annoyance misplaced.
The original Sachs video, which was produced as part of a series by Ericsson, is here.
Another blog criticizes a video by a certain famous economist
Update 4/13/10: see Aid Watch post above
From ICTWorks.org post:
Sachs has a new video out about ending global poverty, and I find it very disturbing…..Sachs (and all the white people) sitting in very nice, even posh settings, but black people are filmed from a car in poverty settings. Does that mean we can take time and get face-to-face with whites, but best to stay in the car and drive by black people
…
Climate Blowback: What I didn’t say was not what I didn’t mean not to say
My post criticizing Sachs on climate change got many negative responses yesterday. The main problem was that I was much too terse about an issue that people care a lot about (you should probably apply a “weekend discount” to things I post on weekends!). So some understandably jumped to conclusions about what I was saying, which were inaccurate.
Honestly, I know very little about climate change. But I do know a…
Debating Sachs: the Next Generation
I am reluctant these days to post any criticisms of Jeff Sachs, since I know many people are tired of this never-ending back and forth. But I make an exception when my own daughter asks me to take him on.
I want to protect her privacy and not involve her directly in what is at times a nasty debate, so let me just says she is a college junior who has studied and thought a lot about the…
Who is best qualified to help Haiti? Why not the Haitian diaspora?
Toronto Globe and Mail columist Margaret Wente:
Who can offer the most help to the desperate children of Haiti? Is it Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Sachs, the World Bank or the UN? Is it the many experts who are calling for a Marshall Plan to “fix” Haiti once and for all, or the donor nations that have pledged billions for the task?
Personally, I would choose people like Eric and Nicole Pauyo. The Haitian-Canadian couple,
…
Posted in Disaster/ humanitarian aid, In the news
Also tagged Bill Clinton, Diaspora, earthquakes, Haiti, Margaret Wente, World Bank
7 Comments
The Development Satire Industry Reaches New Lows: Why?
I just found out about another contribution to the exploding development satire field. It’s in EXTREMELY bad taste, is often disgusting, and always features lacerating and offensive satire … therefore, some of you will LOVE it.
It’s based around a blog called HR International (to keep our blog’s PG-13 rating, I will not at this time spell out what HR stands for). I found out about it because I am one of the 3 people that @hreliefint…
Jeff Sachs, welcome to Twitter!
As of 11 am today (2/26), Jeff Sachs has started posting on Twitter as @jeffdsachs. Here is some of the early traffic in which yours truly has a tiny stake (I have omitted who did the T for privacy):
(anon): Just noticed that @bill_easterly is following @jeffdsachs but not vice versa / Hilarious
@bill_easterly: This hurts :>) RT Just noticed that @bill_easterly is following @jeffdsachs but not vice…
An oil purse is a curse, of course?
This post is by Adam Martin, a post-doctoral fellow at DRI.
In development economics everyone knows that natural resources are a curse. A well-known study by Sachs and Warner found a negative correlation between resource abundance and growth rates, while subsequent studies have shown a negative relationship with democracy.
The Curse enjoys wide appeal. Aid skeptics like that it implicates oppressive domestic government and nationalized industries. Aid supporters are drawn to its emphasis on geography…