Dead aid
by Dambisa Moyo · first published 2009
14mentions
5recommended by
12HN commenters
2009–2025first – last mentioned
42% recommend58% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Argues that decades of Western aid to Africa have failed to produce growth and can even entrench dependence, making a clear case for why aid so often falls short.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In "Dead Aid," Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa that has channeled billions of dollars in aid but failed to reduce poverty and increase growth. He offers a new, more hopeful vision of how to address the desperate poverty that plagues millions.
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…in the neighborhood of $1 – $2 trillion (with a "t") dollars to various developing countries. It hasn't done much. Why not? That's a question that a host of books have attempted to answer (I recommend Dead Aid, The Bottom Billion, and Why Nations Fail to the curious). I don't think we'll ever get a complete answer but we should at least be asking the right questions. (Relevant observation: I'm a grant writing…
on “Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013” ↗Dead Aid is also a great book on why Aid to Africa is usually in vain. [1]http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Aid-Working-Better-Africa/dp/0374...
on “The Trader Who Donates Half His Pay” ↗Some randoms I remember : ) - Thinking in Systems - by Donella Meadows - Dead Aid - Dambisa Moyo - Day of Empire - Amy Chua - Mistakes Were Made (not by me) - Caroll Tavris - Brotopia - Emily Chang
on “You can just read 25 books” ↗…macro study). Unfortunately, this is often true for almost every group for whatever it's fighting for. It's ideology that brings people together. This is easily seen in NGOs, and is very well examined in Dead Aid [1]. I highly recommend reading it... emotion is what drives most giving, and almost certainly how people fight for a cause. It's hard to be rational all the time. > Seventy years of environmentalists…
on “US Should Create Strategy by End of '22 to Reduce Increasing Ocean Plastic Waste” ↗Africa: A Biography: http://www.amazon.com/Africa-Biography-Continent-John-Reader... The 'Dead Aid' book and others like it. There was a specific book on the Congo whos title I can't remember atm, but I will find. Wikipedia is also good for context, and the associated link, for eg. starting at the…
on “Is the #kony2012 campaign a scam, or just misleading? ” ↗…particular should be a right these days. For some reason I always idolize it (along with Kindles) as being the path towards creating a Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy for everyone. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Aid-Working-Better-Africa/dp/037...
on “OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world” ↗…the black market, nationalizing assets, etc. All to get and retain power. There are very few functioning peaceful free market democracies. There is also a lot to be said about western aid methods (see Dead Aid[1]). Our food programs have been known to destroy local economies. What the WTO would consider dumping (and a trade violation) in the west we call 'aid' in Africa. Before having an opinion on the Kony…
on “Is the #kony2012 campaign a scam, or just misleading? ” ↗White people are finally starting to "get it". http://youtu.be/dyf2Cf5GkTY See Dambisa Moyo's interview about her book "Dead Aid" The statistics showing how aid is actually hurting African countries and not allowing them to develop on their own the way the rest of the world has.
on “Why I stopped being a voluntourist ” ↗…of living because 1: the aid is siphoned off by corruption and used for further violence 2: the population increases up to the new maximal carrying capacity should you really continue aid? see also: dead aid http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Aid-Working-Better-Africa/dp/0374...
on “Why the Evidence of Water on the Moon is Bad News” ↗…corruption / dictators are addressed. But today's solutions lead to even greater problems. Search for: Former World Bank economist, Dambisa Moyo argues that the current approach isn't working. In her book, "Dead Aid", she says it has proved to be an "unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster".
on “Poor in India Starve as Politicians Steal $14.5 Billion of Food” ↗…the only solution he presents in the piece - make money and give it to NGOs to hire professionals - sounds, well, not exactly surprising coming from a grant writing consultant. The authors of books like Dead Aid [1] and White Man's Burden [2] would have a few research-backed criticisms of what his suggested approach does to NGOs' effectiveness. I was hoping to find some in-trade NGO hacks for travel volunteerism,…
on “Most volunteering is a waste of time for anyone except the volunteer” ↗Unintended consequences for sure, makes me think of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dambisa_Moyo#Dead_Aid. I'm starting to give hearing to the common criticism I've heard Ramesh Ponnuru say a lot which is something along the lines of policies not "generating wealth"
on “GiveDirectly Planning to Give $30M in Basic Income to East Africa” ↗…than most at the job. Actually it’s not well understood at all, and whatever lessons we think we’ve learned aren’t normally applied as aid is emotional and not rational [1] [1] https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Aid-Working-Better-Africa/dp/037...
on “Why didn't Denmark sell Greenland? (2011)” ↗What Gates mentions in that article was brought up by many in the past; e.g. "Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa"[1]. Personally I prefer to donate to small micro-funding campaigns or lean, local NGOs. In case of disaster relief I still might donate…