Posts Tagged:

 

June 3, 2009

Oh Dear: Still More on Moyo

Posted by Nancy Birdsall in Aid Effectiveness, Global Development Tags: , ,

I am not thrilled to continue the conversation about Dambiso Moyo’s book. But Duncan Green, in a useful review of the reviews, notes that Dead Aid is now 3rd on Amazon’s U.S. sales list, so the initial hype may have a long-lasting influence. Here’s the bottom line of one review he mentions by his Oxfam colleague Chikondi Mpokosa – a Malawian woman: “Moyo’s book has done a lot of harm, which will have a real human cost.” I suspect she’s wrong that the book has already done harm. It depends on how many people who bought it read it, and on whether they buy (figuratively) her argument. For why they ought not to, see what my colleagues, Roodman, Moss and Radelet, have to say. Read More…

2 Comments »

 

April 22, 2009

The Media Blitz of Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid is Far from Dead

Posted by Todd Moss in Aid Effectiveness, Global Development, Regions Tags: ,

I had the privilege of speaking at Dambisa Moyo’s first Washington DC event, held recently at the Cato Institute (watch the webcast here). Her book Dead Aid is a full-frontal attack on aid to Africa (and has attracted an extraordinary amount of media attention). As much of my own work has been highly critical of the aid business, it was somewhat unusual (and a little awkward) to find myself mostly defending foreign aid. While I disagree with her characterization and have several major problems with the book, I do believe her frustration is both genuine and widely held across Africa. For no other reason than this, it should not be dismissed, as some reviewers have tried to do. Read More…

1 Comment »