Dambiso Moyo - Dead Aid

Reviewed by Maggie Perkovic April 2009
The well documented horrors of extreme poverty around the world have created a moral imperative that people have responded to in their millions. Yet the poverty exists. Are we not being generous enough? Or is the problem somehow insoluble, an inevitable ouotcome of historical circumstance?
In this provocative and compelling book, the author argues that the most important challenge we face today is to destroy the myth that Aid actually works. In this modern glovalized economy, simply handing out more money, however well intentioned, will not help the poorest nations achieve sustainable long term growth.
Dead aid analyses the history of economic development over the last 50yrs and shows how aid crowds out financial social capital and feeds corruption, the countries that have caught up, did so despite rather than because of Aid.
There is however, an alternative, extreme poverty is not inevitable. The author shows how, with improved access to capital and markets and with the right policies, even the poorets nations can prosper.
If we really do want to help, we have to do more than just appease our consciences, hoping for the best, expecting the worst. We need to first undertand the problem