Book review – Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo February 8, 2010
Posted by Dan Herman in Africa, Books, Economics.Tags: Africa, Books, Economics
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Having spent over 2 years in Sub-Saharan Africa, in some of the richest and poorest countries on the Continent, and having worked in the aid & development industry, I was excited to learn of the release of Dambiso Moyo’s polemic against the aid industry in her book Dead Aid (released in early 2009). However with scant access to libraries and bookstores over the past year of our travels, I had to wait until I was back on Canadian soil to pick up a copy.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m any better off having read it.
First, a caveat emptor: I’m in full agreement with the basic premise of Dambisa Moyo’s book, that being that development aid harms more than it helps recipient countries. From my experiences, the aid industry, albeit altruistic, suffers from one enormous fault of logic. That fault sees international dollars and expertise replace the basic functioning of the basic state. Aid replaces domestic statecraft, taxation and good governance. Thus the citizens (more…)
