Comments on: Where Dambisa Moyo’s right, and where she’s wrong

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:47:53 +0000

Kevin — your questions on the role of corruption in increasing market efficiency (and of the market in dampening corruption) are interesting. There’s a whole body of literature on it–eg I’m assuming you’ve know of his work already, but if not, google Johan Graff Lambsdorff — the founder of Transparency International’s corruption index. He has some fascinating insights into symbiotic relationships between corruption and market forces–its not as much, or at least as obviously, about efficiency as you might think.
Cheers,
S.

By: Dave Lucas

Dave Lucas — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:52:20 +0000

I was part of “the media blitz” – I interviewed Ms. Moyo and one of her critics, a young African attending college in Canada

http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/2009/04/interview-dambisa-moyo.html

By: Jesse’s Blog » Blog Archive » Appropriate aid is the new charity (but it sucks less)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:21:34 +0000

[...] reads: Ethan writes a lot about this topic on his blog. He’s penned a post recently on his perspective on the subtleties of market development in Africa: how a lack of open information flow is actually universally crippling to all market development, [...]

By: Katrin

Katrin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:11:05 +0000

Ethan, as you will see when you read the book, she does not talk about transparency and accountability in private sector investments and governance at all. She does, implicitly, acknowledge that the rule of law in regard to ‘doing business’ must be clear – moribund regulations and laws must be strengthened and reformed in order to attract investments.

Moreover, she notes and then dismisses concerns about China’s investments that have “not strings” attached – unlike the ones from European banks, for example – and pay no heed to corruption, and environmental or human rights abuses. She notes the “favorable” view many Africans have of the Chinese and asserts that African governments need to regulate labor and environmental stipulations on their own, accountable to their own populations.

She then goes even further, noting that “Africa is getting what it needs” in this trade-off without illusions. She writes: “Africa is getting quality capital that actually funds investments, jobs for its people, and that elusive growth. These are the things aid promised, but has consistently failed to deliver.”

Overall, while her soundbites, smarts, and press appearances in the West (one wonder why she is not doing the same PR blitz in African countries, incidentally) are impressive, the book is not – it is missing not only what you note but is also poorly sourced and for the most part, largely polemic rather than thoughtful.

It’s a huge opportunity missed to have a very serious and substantive debate on aid — led by African thought leaders, reformers, and politicians.

By: Michel Monette

Michel Monette — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:10:42 +0000

Would not Aid be more efficient if IMF and the Donors could not impose their rules? So far as I can see, they did not and do not seem ready to admit they are wrong. At the G20 Summit, IMF pledge to change but it sounds like a husband promise to her wife ready to give him a last chance instead of doing the right thing: divorcing. International Aid do not work mostly because IMF and World Bank both failed but also because Donors want to look smarts, not to realy help recipient countries to be free from their “generosity”.

By: Patrick Burnett

Patrick Burnett — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:57:22 +0000

Also haven’t read the book, but the free trade argument is very problematic given the myriad obstacles Africa faces in competing on an equal footing with rich countries, such as agricultural subsidies.

By: Henok

Henok — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:26:59 +0000

Thanks it is a powerful word -”When someone is saving a life, you don’t care that it’s aid – you want the person to be alive.”

By: Kevin Donovan

Kevin Donovan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:29:23 +0000

The market is probably less vulnerable to a certain type of corruption: corruption which increases inefficiencies. Moyo wants growth and that requires efficient markets and the informational feedback loop that comes from them. If corruption in the private sphere is leading to bad investments, etc, then the free market will kill those more rapidly than the aid economy. Perhaps there is some type of corruption that actually is efficient (short term fix since institutional changes require time).

(None of this is to say that the need for good journalism/transparency isn’t and overlooked and important part).

By: Roxy

Roxy — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:17:29 +0000

Ethan, you may be interested in reading Guardian’s Madeleine Bunting piece: The road to ruin where she talks about how alarmed she is by Moyo’s book because it argues against giving aid to Africa http://bit.ly/32s7gA

By: moyo’s aid. at Where They Are

moyo’s aid. at Where They Are — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:34:43 +0000

[...] surprised. Ethan Zuckerman thinks Dambisa Moyo is careful: … to distinguish between emergency assistance and systematic [...]