Niall Ferguson on Live8:
Between 1975 and 1984, real net aid from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development to Sub-Saharan African countries grew at a rate of nearly 8 per cent, two and a half times faster than in the past 10 years. Yet African growth was 2 per cent a year, compared with more than 3 per cent since 1995. With the exception of the compulsively optimistic Jeff Sachs – Bono’s new best friend – most economists today acknowledge that higher growth in Africa will only come when there is real political reform in countries such as Zimbabwe, and real peace in countries such as the Congo.
Will Live 8 put pressure on Robert Mugabe to step down? Will it put pressure on Congo’s warring factions to lay down their arms? Hm, that’s funny; those demands don’t seem to have made it into Sir Bob’s manifesto. And it’s easy to see why not. It’s so much more satisfying for the Jellybys to make believe that Africa’s woes are the responsibility of those “eight (white, terminally uncool) men” who lead the G8 countries…
via Logical Meme
July 5th, 2005 | Economics, International Institutions