First he briefly takes the reader through the paths of development traced by the different countries of the world and reveals that the enormous economic disparity that exists today is the product of the unequal economic growth of not more than a few hundred years of the recent past. He highlights the importance of what he calls differential diagnosis to understand the problems of each country and illustrates this from his involvement in the crises of Bolivia, Russia and Poland.
The central argument of the book is that development aid from developed nations can go a long way in helping the poor nations climb out of poverty and step onto the economic ladder of development. He says that once a country is able to take this first and vital step, aid need not be as much important as before. To achieve this, he advocates that the developed nations need contribute not more than 0.7% of their annual GDP to the impoverished nations. Further, he says this is what the developed countries themselves have already promised in 2000, asserting their commitment to the Millenium Development Goals.
However, he realises that a plain flow of cash is not enough. He outlines a plan to implement development programmes at the grass-root level, ensuring that transparency is maintained and that people are held accountable.
I found the book to be an illuminating and inspiring read. Nevertheless, there has been a lot of criticism against Jeff's theory that foreign aid can help. I share one such critique and Jeff's reply to that as well.
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25562-2005Mar10.htm
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64541-2005Mar24.html
Happy reading..
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