October 28, 2009
The Moyo Criterion: Is Easterly a Truer Scholar than the Gateses?
Yesterday, Bill Easterly and Laura Freschi took Bill and Melinda Gates to task for building an aid success story on dubious African malaria statistics.
Views from the Center
October 23, 2009
The Chicken or the Egg…Accountability and Outcomes in Aid Relationships
Earlier this week, Ruth Levine called for aid to be unbranded as a further step to rebrand America. Nancy Birdsall, Bill Savedoff and I have heard the same plea during conversations we’ve had with government officials about Cash on Delivery Aid.
October 19, 2009
To Rebrand America, Unbrand Aid
Bono argues in Sunday’s New York Times that President Obama has already taken major and very welcome steps to “rebrand” America in the eyes of the world. How? By making this statement at the United Nations:
“We will support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year’s summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.”
October 14, 2009
Belated Reflections from WB-IMF Meetings in Istanbul — What the IFIs Could Learn from the IOC
Some impressions from the World Bank-IMF meetings, held last week in Istanbul, where the views of the mosques are magnificent and the traffic is truly terrible!
October 9, 2009
Could Ex Ante Loan Sanctions against the De Facto Honduran Regime Prevent Illegitimate Debt?
This is a joint posting with Cindy Prieto.
Since the coup ousting Honduran president Manuel Zelaya last June, the international community has responded with strong words and a mix of mostly mild actions. The Organization of American States (OAS) unanimously voted to suspend Honduras when the de facto regime ignored its demand for the immediate reinstatement of Zelaya, and the UN General Assembly has also adopted a resolution denouncing the coup. The United States and European Union have halted some forms of non-humanitarian aid. But despite some calls for action , the United States and other major trade partners have yet to adopt trade sanctions or to freeze the coup leaders' assets.
October 7, 2009
Gates Foundation Explores Securitizing Aid
Yes that’s right. Securitizing is a bad word nowadays, but in fact it’s a great idea that I’ve written about -- as a wishful dream not a possible Gates-sponsored reality. Yet here it is in a recent Economist article: “Or the foundation might provide insurance against the non-payment of aid promised by a donor, so that a government will know that, one way or another, the money will come.”
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