Combating Poverty: the Ccharade of Development Aid

This is the time of year in the USA when we are exhorted to give to the less fortunate. How often do we ask whether what we gives makes a difference. The helping agencies are full of anecdotes, but there is little evidence they make much difference. The behaviors which result in dependency rarely change. Now, this week is an editorial worth reading in the BMJ, which looks at evaluation of the $billions of international aid given out from western countries. Development aid is meant to help eradicate poverty through the stimulation of economic growth. A total of $2.3 trillion (£1.1 trillion; 1.6 trillion) has been spent on development aid over past five decades, and it has been the subject of vigorous debate among development economists. All the evaluations share former US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neal’s sigh of exasperation that, "We’ve spent trillions of dollars on these problems and we have damn near nothing to show for it." Donors largely lack evidence based knowledge of the situation on the ground in poor countries, or of how to make aid effective. Whether giving aid locally, or through the international community, hard evidence is more important than political self importancr..