Evaluating the Effectiveness of Aid

Overview

There have long been debates on the effectiveness of aid. It is hard to measure quantitatively, and even when this is accomplished, everyone has a different interpretation of those facts and figures. Most economists agree that aid can be beneficial and is needed; debate arises on how countries should give aid and how that aid should be used within the receiving country to maximize its impact. Most everyone also acknowledges that despite good intentions, aid has not been as effective as it could be and so far major goals have not been accomplished. Another difference of opinions rises here - if aid has not been effective so far, should donor countries continue to give aid in the same manner as before, or should a new course be charted?

William Easterly and Jeffrey Sachs are the two preeminent economists at the forefront of this debate. Easterly is an economics professor at New York University a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C. He was an economist at the World Bank for sixteen years and recently authored The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. He argues that despite good intentions, the efforts of the West to aid developing countries have largely failed, and as such we need to commit to a new course of action, not just continue to pledge more money. Sachs, on the other hand, believes that although goals have not been meet, donor countries should increase their aid donation because with enough money, extreme poverty can be eliminated within our generation. He is currently an economics professor and director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is the director of the United Nations Millennium Project and recently authored The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time.

Sachs

As stated in The End of Poverty Jeffrey Sachs believes that with the right policies

The Millennium Development Goals

Sachs firmly believes that despite initial failures, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be accomplished by 2015. The six MDGs include

  1. 

Easterly

Description