Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa

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Dead Aid brings an important subject into the public eye. View all 13 comments. May 02, Tinea rated it liked it Shelves: First of all, what is with the foreward here?

But it is a good reason nonetheless. I have a suspicion that there's a lot of this kind of tokenism behind this book's enormous popularity. It's an ok book with a few new ideas but not many then aren't already argued better elsewhere.

I mean, I am a huge fan of standpoint theory, but it's disingenuous when the only African voices lauded by a certain ideology are the ones that conveniently support it with no mention of the countless ones opposed. But in the end it's the same old same old, and she doesn't examine inequality ; money to governments and business elites might raise a GDP but it doesn't necessarily mean much for poor people, the ostensible targets of much of the aid she criticizes.

And while I agree with a lot of her criticisms of aid in the form of loans and vast grants directly to governments aid's fucked! Interestingly, one of Moyo's biggest problems with aid is the lack of conditionality attached to it. As in, even if countries are corrupt and leaders spend aid money on frivolities like private jets, they still get money next year.

She comes down hard on people like Sachs who uncritically encourage mass increases in aid but surprisingly soft on conditionalities agendas! If you're going to call out the system, call out the whole system. View all 4 comments. May 08, Lucy rated it liked it Shelves: An extremely neoliberal approach to the problem of development in Africa. It was an extremely interesting read - not least the chapter on China - however, there is no disguising that it is a very one-sided view of the problems facing Africa.

Noting the issues with infrastructure and liquidity, Moyo offe An extremely neoliberal approach to the problem of development in Africa. Noting the issues with infrastructure and liquidity, Moyo offers market-based solutions for Africa to help itself by tracking various market mechanisms and their effect on the fictional country of Donga.

This was my problem with the book. Despite being written by an African Economist I think it gave a very narrowminded perspective of development. A lot of the suggestions are difficult to implement and whilst I'm sure the economic solutions would work I felt that Moyo underestimated the social and political spheres in which these solutions must operate. Nevertheless a good and interesting perspective on the aid problem. Apr 04, Ben Babcock rated it liked it Shelves: Africa is this huge, Africa-shaped continent south of Eurasia and kind of east of South America.

There is such a diversity of nations, people, languages, cultures, and societies in Africa. Some countries are mired in years of dictatorial rule, torn by civil war, hungry from years of regular famine. Of course, you already know this. What if sending less aid is the solution?

Yet there are also some readily apparent arguments for her thesis. Secondly, there are many countries that have received metaphorical truckloads of money—yet their citizens remain in poverty, their infrastructure is underdeveloped, and their government officials are corrupt. Do I believe her? Honestly, economics is still over my head, despite the fact that I can run circles around the differential equations it employs.

By the way, if you do understand the economics behind the math, then Moyo can hook you up: Dead Aid is full of statistics and figures and a cogent at least from my limited perspective analysis of the facts. For instance, it is outrageous that countries in Africa often have to borrow more money i. If we give aid because we have this idea that all the African countries need is enough money to get them standing on their own, then that idea is wrong.

I think Moyo is right, however, when she conjectures that we often give aid because it is habitual and because it looks good. Giving aid can also be competitive; no one wants to be the first country to stop giving aid! So just as the African countries are trapped in a vicious cycle, so too are the governments and organizations dedicated to helping them.

Moyo seems awfully optimistic about the potential for free market solutions. She thinks aid is in many ways harmful: Remove aid from the equation, and she says that homegrown solutions will emerge, citing numerous micro-finance schemes that lend to groups of borrowers who use trust as collateral.

She even mentions M-Pesa , which I had previously heard about on an episode of Spark.

Therefore, they are better equipped to develop innovative ways of overcoming these obstacles—mobile micro-finance is but one of them. While we should not abandon Africa and leave it to its own devices, it is clear that the current system does not work. Pumping more money into it will not work. Sometimes I think she waxes slightly idealistic: There is just so much pressure to buy local food. Moyo has some good ideas, but she does tackle the problem from a narrow, very market-centric perspective. Ultimately, as Moyo articulates with a palpable sense of frustration on her part, if we want to see Africans succeed, the rest of the world needs to stop treating them like children—and that includes pumping unlimited money into the country in the hope that it will somehow make things better.

So I guess you could say that Dead Aid moved me and provoked me to think, and that is always a good thing for a book to do. She succeeds in convincing me that aid can be more harmful than helpful, and that a more nuanced view of the situation is necessary if we are going to improve it. Oct 15, Ed rated it it was ok Shelves: This little book has been a hit with economists who think that the only solution to grinding third world African poverty must be market-based. While it makes good points--particularly that humanitarian aid to Africa hasn't worked as a way to start economic development--those points get lost in Moyo's scattershot approach and lack of documentation.

I am sure she has read everything available on the subject but there is no bibliography and only sketchy notes so she doesn't tell us where she got This little book has been a hit with economists who think that the only solution to grinding third world African poverty must be market-based. I am sure she has read everything available on the subject but there is no bibliography and only sketchy notes so she doesn't tell us where she got her ideas or even her facts.

Her style is a real problem--she slides from analysis to polemic without transition so that it is sometimes difficult to tell whether she is asserting an opinion or citing evidence based findings. Moyo seems smart as a whip with courage of her convictions and a fierce loyalty to her homeland, Zambia, and to sub-Saharan Africa generally.

She is an energetic advocate but not a very convincing one. Her combination of African heritage and attacks on received wisdom although she demolishes a few strawmen along the way means that she has a good story, ready made for soundbites, helped along in our media obsessed Western culture by the fact that she is based on author photos in the book and on the net staggeringly attractive. And a lot of copy editing--Moyo is not a particularly felicitous writer. She doesn't spare the West in her list of what is wrong and how to fix it, going after the important issues like trade barriers, subsidies and immigration restrictions and is particularly hard on her fellow Africans pointing out that humanitarian aid makes control of a government valuable and so encourages armed rebellion, civil war and the horrors of mass population relocation.

Succeeding in a rebellion and running the government means the winners have access to the many millions of dollars, Euros and pounds that continue to flow. Recommended only as a quick primer for some of the main disputes in the foreign policy and humanitarian nexus. View all 3 comments. Clare Herbert rated it it was ok May 08, Jun 30, Beth Haynes rated it really liked it Shelves: I just finished reading Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo.

Her primary thesis is that not only has aid not helped to end poverty a view also held by William Easterly: Moyo has a PhD in economics, interestingly obtained under the tutelage of foreign aid advocate, Dr. Paul Collier The Bottom Billion. The book is short and quickly glosses over multiple topics. For someone unfamiliar with the history and controversies surrounding foreign aid, this book could be one good place to start --but as a defense of her thesis, it falls short. Her arguments are plausible, especially for someone already skeptical of government intervention into economic affairs.

A convincing presentation, however, would require much more empirical data and analysis in order to substantiate the claims. Wanting to obtain an opposing point of view, I asked my favorite Keynesian for his recommendation--and he sent me the link to Stephen Lewis' segment in the following debate.

I highly recommend watching at least the opening statements of this star panel which in addition to Lewis includes Moyo, Collier and Hernando de Soto The Mystery of Capital.

The Munk Debates: Aug 08, Jake B rated it it was ok. I don't think the author ever really made the case for her proposal. She did however make some fairly compelling critiques of an aid model which may or may not reflect current reality. My biggest disappointment is that her proposals chiefly financing through bonds and FDI while interesting are tossed out as though their benefits are self-evident. There were scattered sentences here and there which could have formed the nucleus of arguments for her position, but these often appeared late in the I don't think the author ever really made the case for her proposal.

There were scattered sentences here and there which could have formed the nucleus of arguments for her position, but these often appeared late in the book and almost as asides. Regarding bonds, her chief arguments seem to be: In addition, regarding FDI she doesn't give a credible explanation for how this model works for the vast majority of African nations without extensive oil reserves.

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa

Feb 01, Corey rated it really liked it Shelves: Dead Aid, in a well-researched and convincing manner, describes the past and current justifications for humanitarian and development aid in Africa, the drawbacks and failures of this method, and suggests several alternatives for the future. As a layman in the field, I appreciated the clear and coherent writing style and logical construction of the arguments.

As a layman, though, I also lack the background to objectively judge the value of the alternate plans she proposes. I do have some uneducat Dead Aid, in a well-researched and convincing manner, describes the past and current justifications for humanitarian and development aid in Africa, the drawbacks and failures of this method, and suggests several alternatives for the future.

I do have some uneducated opinions, though. First of all, I cannot believe that her thesis was so controversial because much of it seems like common sense to me. So why did the aid funding bodies believe that throwing free money at Africa would solve its problems? To me, it seems obvious that you help someone more by buying something from them than from giving them a handout. If for no other reason than because there is a lot more mutual respect between the parties in a commercial transaction than in begging and handing out which engenders resentment by implying that one party has and the other has not.

In business you would never pay for something without ensuring that you received the commodity that you paid for. You would certainly not conduct business with the offending party a second time. It seems that aid-receiving governments should, at the very least, have to account for their aid spending.

Thirdly, Moyo argues that American subsidies to American cotton farmers have reduced the demand for cotton from Africa and that one of the best ways that the West could help Africa is by increasing trade. Not to mention the carbon footprint of products crossing the Atlantic several times instead of once.

Finally, Moyo comes across as an enthusiastic proponent of trade with China but only mentions in passing that China has slack labor and environmental prerequisites for trade. While aid funding unwittingly goes to support dictators and corruption, China might openly and willingly fund dictators.

The lives of the poor will not necessarily improve because they will still be subject to low-grade living conditions and exploitation by warlords.

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Perhaps more money will be funneled into the economy but will the poor benefit from it? Some quotes that I particularly liked: To this question the answer is not clear. There are democratic countries in Africa that continue to struggle to post convincing growth numbers Senegal, at just 3 per cent growth in , and there are also decidedly undemocratic African countries that are seeing unprecedented economic growth for example, Sudan. What is clear is that democracy is not the prerequisite for economic growth that aid proponents maintain. On the contrary, it is economic growth that is a prerequisite for democracy; and the one thing economic growth does not need is aid.

Yet, it remains clear that, by providing funds, aid agencies inadvertently? Western political imperatives against freer trade continue to reign, and efforts to depose the current regime are proving futile. Together with environmental and labor issues, there are now serious barriers to trade. Jul 20, Derek Simon rated it it was ok.

As the title suggests, Dambisa Moyo's argument is that not only is foreign aid in Africa not working, it is actually the main cause of Africa's failure to reach its full economic and social potential. This is an interesting and provocative thesis, and one that certainly challenges allot of mainstream thinking. However, if you are expecting that Dr. Moyo will challenge conventional thinking with some hard evidence, you may be dissapointed.

The book mainly consists of some mainstream free market e As the title suggests, Dambisa Moyo's argument is that not only is foreign aid in Africa not working, it is actually the main cause of Africa's failure to reach its full economic and social potential. The book mainly consists of some mainstream free market economic analysis, with very little in the way of real world facts and figures to back it up.

She occasionally cites some studies that supposedly support her points, without telling the reader what the studies were about or what they actually found. And she seems to rely on pithy quotes and anecdotes that support her views allot more than studies or hard evidence. It's too bad, because my sense is that some of her analysis is probably right. However, she simply doesn't take the time to back it up with much in the way of real hard evidence. Moyo's book doesn't really deliver on its promise. Jul 06, Anna rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: I liked this book a whole lot.

Because, she says, it's clearly not working. It doesn't give African governments any incentive to change things, it leads to corruption, and "regular" people never see a dime of it anyway. We need change and one way of doing that is by cutting off aid entirely. When I first heard this I thought it sounded nuts and tot I liked this book a whole lot. When I first heard this I thought it sounded nuts and totally irrational because we've been brainwashed to think that Africa "needs" money.

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The media floods us with negative images about the continent so all we ever see are the starving children, pictures of in-fighting and military coups, Somali pirates, basically all negative stuff. And even as someone "educated" I majored in economics and finance and have a grad degree in urban planning and policy I still kept thinking there is no way we can cut off aid because so many people are counting on it Well, when I read the book I started to totally see her point.

She's right about a lot of stuff. Most ordinary people hardly ever actually see our aid money. It does lead to a lot of corruption and gives leaders a reason to continue fighting for power. It doesn't actually spur development. And even with all of that wonderful aid money that the West sends to Africa we don't really seem to want or care about the well-being of Africa. And our trade policies are so protectionist that we hardly do any trade with African nations.

There were a lot of interesting things that I learned from reading this book ranging from getting a better sense of which African countries have what kinds of resources and competitive advantages or at least should in theory to learning all about China's role in Africa's development. This part of the book was possibly the most interesting as I had absolutely no idea!

Her arguments are very convincing and I urge economists and people interested in politics or those simply interested in Africa to read this and sort of stop and think. I don't think her get-rid-of-all-aid agenda will ever actually materialize only because I don't think it'll ever be all-or-nothing BUT I do think it's worth considering what would happen if we tried this. It sort of bothered me that Moyo didn't really talk much about the continent's colonial past but at the same time I understand her pressing urgency in wanting the continent to move forward, regardless of how badly it's been bastardized by Europe.

Most readers probably won't buy into everything she says but it's worth thinking about and as you read it you really do start to see that she's not interested in creating shock value at all. She's interested in bringing development and growth to places that need it badly and have been neglected for many years. And she made me realize just how Western-centric all of our policies toward Africa really are and that could be precisely why they aren't working I hope some of her policies are enacted as Moyo has made me realize very clearly that a the current aid model is NOT working and b there are actually a ton of things we could try instead that might work a lot better for average Africans.

Sep 19, Czarny Pies rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Anyone who is interested in Africa. Recommended to Czarny by: I saw the eloquent Ms. Moyo interviewed on the CBC,. I possess a CFA charter which means that I have a professional knowledge of banking and credit. Forget what the critics say. Dambisa Moya is not a black woman but a professional banker who knows how lending and banking work.

Dambisa Moya's thesis is simple. If Western financial institutions applied the same principles to Africa that that they have always applied in their own countries, Africa would quickly become rich and prosperous. It is unfortunate that Moyo allowed Niall Ferguson who is somet I possess a CFA charter which means that I have a professional knowledge of banking and credit. It is unfortunate that Moyo allowed Niall Ferguson who is sometimes a brilliant historian and at other times a mindless advocate of right wing causes to write the introduction to this book which contributed to many people taking her for a mouthpiece for the neo-liberal movement.

The basic principle of banking is that you lend more to those who repay their loans and withdraw credit from those who do not. Thus you reward good management and good morals. When credit is allocated in this manner, a country prospers. I mean could you imagine a world where Credit Card holders raised the credit limits on those who missed their payments and lowered it on those who paid regularly. Moyo uses quantitative evidence to show that those African countries which did not receive aid and instead chose to play by the rules of the financial markets have achieved the best growth rates in Africa.

What happens when a country gets foreign aid? The heavy spending on the military causes inflation that destroys the local businesses. Again this is pretty standard analysis. Moyo obviously believes that Africans can compete with anyone when allowed to play by the same rules. When different rules are forced on them by eager aid donors, their economies crumble. Aug 15, Beth Anne rated it really liked it. It's pretty hard to argue with the case made by Dambisa Moyo in Dead Aid. Moyo criticizes the Jeffrey Sachses and the Bonos of the world, and calls for a shift away from and ultimately, a cessation of the aid-based development model championed by Western policymakers and pop stars.

According to Moyo, Africa needs less aid, not more-- aid does nothing but help Westerners feel good about themselves helping maintain the illusion that they're doing the "right" thing , while their checks support corrupt leaders and discourage meaningful, long-term growth. These are not easy truths to swallow, but there's no arguing with Moyo's facts— and her assertion that successful economic development in Africa isn't a pipedream, but a very real possibility, given the right non aid-based approach. Dead Aid is definitely a must-read for anyone interested in issues pertaining to global poverty and economic development.

Apr 22, Emily added it. I started this book in '09 but picked it up and re-started it again last month, given the context of my hopeful Peace Corps deployment as a business volunteer in Africa. For anyone who isn't really comfortable with the idea of western governments sending billions of dollars in taxpayer money to Africa, where it often ends up in the corrupt hands of warlords, or with the idea, propagated by Bono et al.

Moyo is brilliant, and if our governments adopted the tactics she outlined her book we'd save millions of dollars while encouraging natural, healthy economic growth in Africa. It's clear that the aid program status quo is not working, so rather than flush more money down the toilet, we need to take a step back and evaluate what can make the most impact. Jul 04, Llew rated it did not like it.

Largely meandering with no coherent argument about why aid, itself, is bad. After all, she is an African woman with a background in the corporate world of Goldman Sachs, the World Bank, Harvard, and Oxford, who is advocating that aid, as it is known now, is damaging Africa and should stop. This proposition will alarm the entire international-aid architecture, including those whose jobs depend on doling aid to Africa, and for whom Africa is considered both a career and industry.

However, the book may appeal to students, researchers, policy makers, and the general reader interested in aid. Written eloquently, part one of Moyo's book is a searing and necessary critique of Western aid agencies and the African countries that receive aid, and its failure. Moyo's economic prescription for many African countries lies in a range of measures to be implemented over five to ten years.

Moyo believes her book provides a blueprint for Africa to wean itself off aid, and the goal cannot be achieved without the donors' cooperation. Meanwhile, one senses that central to any such blueprint must be the democratic involvement of African people in deciding what development means for them and how it is to be attained; however, a definition or discussion of development is lacking in the perspective provided by Moyo: The weaknesses of Moyo's argument begin in the second part of her book, whereby, in chapter 5, "A Radical Rethink of the Aid-Dependency Model," there is little radical thinking in the measures suggested, "a menu of alternatives to fund economic development," particularly as these alternatives are likely to perpetuate the same market-oriented system of so-called free trade that has entrapped Africa for decades.

That is because Moyo sees the market as a neutral arbiter of human values and decisions, and a fair distributor of wealth; yet this market is regulated in the interests of the African middle classes, far more than in the interests of farmers and the poor. Fundamentally, the Achilles' heel of Moyo's thesis is that her exit strategy from aid dependency for Africa is unlikely to be a workable solution in the current global economic recession. After all, since independence, [End Page ] many African countries have sought to attract foreign direct investment FDI , which Western governments and financial institutions have at times provided, with conditionalities attached.

In chapter 7, "The Chinese are Our Friends," Mayo contends that the Chinese have dispensed with the conditionalities that Western countries are renowned for, and that new trading friends are being sought in such places as India, Japan, Russia, and Turkey; yet Mayo fails to examine the example of the pink revolution, which has recently swept Latin America, led by Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and the progressive presidency of Luis Inacio da Silva of Brazil.

Meanwhile, despite all the criticisms of Chavez by the West, he has shown that, in his populist policies, he has the needed support because oil wealth is translated into schools, universities, pensions, clinics, and hospitals for the masses.

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