Has anyone read "The Dictators' Handbook?

[Fragony]

It's a fun read, nothing that you shouldn't already understand, with examples of what you already understand

[rory_20_uk]

It's a fun read, nothing that you shouldn't already understand, with examples of what you already understand

And yet... senior economists continue to think that debt relief / NGO work is a "good thing" and not merely propping up dictators by subsidising things that they no longer need to do. When earthquakes happen nothing is mentioned about why the death toll was so high and why this might be. Aid is still given on the pretext of helping the people, opposed to supporting the dictators that are already there.

So this appears to be something that is rarely talked about, is poorly understood and is even less frequently acted on.

[Fragony]

Talking about NGO's ohohoh Oxam-Novib... at least we now know how the money in Haïti was used, one big sex-party for Oxam-Novib with often underaged hookers. Ouch.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Talking about NGO's ohohoh Oxam-Novib... at least we now know how the money in Haïti was used, one big sex-party for Oxam-Novib with often underaged hookers. Ouch.

Probably not the best way to invest in the economy and encourage long term development.

[Husar]

Talking about NGO's ohohoh Oxam-Novib... at least we now know how the money in Haïti was used, one big sex-party for Oxam-Novib with often underaged hookers. Ouch.

Yeah, well, I'm not the one who keeps saying we should lower taxes and give money to charity instead...

(not saying you necessarily do either, it's more a general point)

[HopAlongBunny]

And yet... senior economists continue to think that debt relief / NGO work is a "good thing" and not merely propping up dictators by subsidising things that they no longer need to do. When earthquakes happen nothing is mentioned about why the death toll was so high and why this might be. Aid is still given on the pretext of helping the people, opposed to supporting the dictators that are already there.

So this appears to be something that is rarely talked about, is poorly understood and is even less frequently acted on.

And that problem is as old as international aid projects.
How much actually gets to the people as opposed to being funneled to black market profiteers, or simply consumed by the leadership.
It is an economy unto itself in some ways.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

And that problem is as old as international aid projects.
How much actually gets to the people as opposed to being funneled to black market profiteers, or simply consumed by the leadership.
It is an economy unto itself in some ways.

Indeed.

[Montmorency]

Indeed.

I have little experience with this subject, but I wonder what analyses have been done to show that changes to the aid regime wouldn't have led to worse outcomes and statuses today.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I have little experience with this subject, but I wonder what analyses have been done to show that changes to the aid regime wouldn't have led to worse outcomes and statuses today.

That would be proving a negative, which doesn't work well with the scientific method.

Still, an argument could be made that it would be worse still if things had been done differently or no aid provided.

[Montmorency]

That would be proving a negative, which doesn't work well with the scientific method.

Still, an argument could be made that it would be worse still if things had been done differently or no aid provided.

Well, in social science research I've seen 'reverse projections' modeled, projections within some past time frame under the relevant parameters. I'm sure there any any number of causal limitations this kind of analysis, but it exists.

Separate from the question of what aid should look like from now on, is the question of whether the existence of the aid overall was better than not rendering any aid, or which types of aid and in which regions/countries. Maybe there were higher returns to aid in the first generation, for instance.

[rory_20_uk]

I have little experience with this subject, but I wonder what analyses have been done to show that changes to the aid regime wouldn't have led to worse outcomes and statuses today.

It seems things will improve if you have replacement of the structure, rather than providing money to it. So, giving the current crop amnesty to spend their stolen money in peace (otherwise why on earth would they ever leave? Surely better to live in relative safety with $1 billion than continue accruing money and be scared each night might be your last) and then frankly either having territory annexed by nearby states that are better functioning or an outside agency who in essence rebuilds the state.

Or just pretend to help by paying for the right to come in, paying for the hotels, giving the aid to the regime and then seeing a few terrified, smiling locals and thinking it must be better.

[Fragony]

You should read Dead Aid, often dismissed because Moyo works for Goldman Sachs, but that's really all I hear, they never get any further than that.