Think Again: U.S. Foreign Aid [Foreign Policy]

Steve Radelet

02/01/2005

From Foreign Policy Magazine, February 2005

Shortly after a tsunami swept through the Indian Ocean last December, a U.N. official complained that the West was "stingy" with its relief donations. Stung by this criticism, the Bush administration increased its financial pledge tenfold overnight—while loudly asserting that the United States actually led the global pack in foreign aid. Is the world’s wealthiest country a scrooge or a savior?

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