In this book, Nicolas Van de Walle identifies 26 countries that
are extremely poor and grew little if at all in the 1990s. His
sample excludes North Korea and countries where civil war explains
some of their failure to grow (Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan,
Tajikistan and others). The 26 countries have limited
infrastructure and human capital and the small size of their
markets deter private savings and investment. Aid was meant to help
overcome these problems, and these countries received a lot. Yet
they have failed to grow. What is wrong? Is foreign aid a solution
or part of the problem? What changes might make aid more effective?
Given these countries require the financial and technical resources
of the West, why haven't aid programs made a difference? Van de
Walle blames their economic failure mostly on the venality and
incompetence of their political leadership. He analyzes the
contradictions and tensions faced by the aid community in poorly
run countries, providing a sobering analysis of the perverse
effects of aid where the politics is all wrong. Too often,
resources provided by foreign aid keep the wrong government in
office, and undermine adoption of economic as well as political
reforms. Bad government combined with aid, in short, hurts poor
countries ? and particularly the poorest people in those countries.
Despite good intentions, little progress has been made in
implementing announced "reforms" of the aid business itself. A
constituency for reform is lacking, in the donor countries and in
the recipient countries, where those in power benefit from the
status quo.
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