Aid, Growth and Development:For or Against Official Development Assistance?
0:00
19 April 2010
In this event, international development scholar Finn Tarp, will explore the highly controversial topic of aid and its effectiveness in light of recent bestsellers on the subject such as Dambisa Moyo's Dead Aid and Paul Colliers's The Bottom Billion.
The question of foreign aid's impact on economic growth and development is highly controversial and excites polarised opinions. Optimistic views of aid are exemplified by those of Jeffrey Sachs, who calls for a doubling of worldwide aid flows as a moral obligation of rich countries that will 'send forth mighty currents of hope' and lead to 'the end of poverty'. In contrast, William Easterly is a vocal sceptic, highlighting aid's apparent historic inability to buy growth. And today, in the midst of a serious global economic crisis, where aid is arguably more needed than ever, the attention of both the aid community and decision-makers is on Dambisa Moyo's Dead Aid, which argues for a complete cessation of aid flows to Africa. This event will provide a balanced overview of the academic literature that has evaluated the effectiveness of aid across countries. Focus will be on the aggregate impact of aid; that is, its effect on country-wide indicators, putting both recent and past literature and insights in perspective.
Global Crisis, More Than Just Economics
61:00
28 January 2010
As the global economy is passing through a period of profound change, the immediate concern is the financial crisis, originating in the developed world. The global South is affected by lower demand and decreasing prices for their exports, reduced private financial flows, and remittances. Simultaneously, climate change remains unchecked with the growth in greenhouse gas emissions exceeding previous estimates. Finally, malnutrition and hunger are on the rise, propelled by the recent inflation in global food prices. Seeking potential policy solutions, the discussion will address threats to development arising from the global economic crisis, food shortages and climate change.
2006 WIDER Annual Lecture
120:05
29 September 2006
People in poor countries live shorter lives than people in rich countries so that, if we take income and health together, there is more inequality in the world than if we consider income alone. Yet international inequalities in life expectancy decreased for many years after 1945, and the strong correlation between income and life-expectancy might lead us to hope that economic growth will improve people’s health as well as their material living conditions. The lecture argues that the apparent convergence in life expectancies is not as beneficial as might appear, and that, while economic growth is the key to poverty reduction, there is no evidence that it will deliver automatic health improvements in the absence of appropriate policy.
Angus Deaton is Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. His main fields of interest are health, both international and domestic, and economic development. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, of the Econometric Society, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as former Vice President of the American Economic Association. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Economics and Consumer Behavior and The Analysis of Household Surveys, as well as many papers in professional journals.
