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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.91091724
EAN num: 9780821362297
ISBN number: 0821362283
Label: World Bank Publications
Manufacturer: World Bank Publications
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 120
Printing Date: 2005-06
Publishing house: World Bank Publications
Sale Popularity Level: 610451
Studio: World Bank Publications
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Product Description:
In an accessible style Michael Klein and Tim Harford analyze some of the hot topics in the aid industry today. They argue that the aid industry is changing, old models of aid are under pressure, and both donors and recipients will ask more and more of aid agencies in the future. The chaos of competition and the search for new ideas are frightening to some and risk harming the people whom the industry is supposed to benefit. Yet at the same time there is a tremendous opportunity for harnessing competition to improve performance and find better ways of helping the poor. Klein and Harford argue for rigorous methods of evaluation and creative use of the private sector to produce a more effective aid industry in which new experiments are encouraged.
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Rated by buyers -
Any serious reader would be curious about the definition of "market for aid" before reading this little book. I began with doubt on the concept and ended with disappointment and even frustration. Yes, there are demand and supply for aid. However, many sources of aid come without a price. The authors do not start by making a careful distinction between grants and concessional loans that bear interest rates lower than market rates. They simply say "If there is a market for aid, it is a strange one" and then move on. Worse yet, their analyses often mix up aid with private loans and foreign direct investment, without making an important distinction between the social objective of aid and the commercial objective of private finance. It is laughable to read the heading "Can aid agencies be smarter than the invisible hand?" The authors appear to forget that aid agencies are in development business, not business. To be fair to the authors, the book presents a large amount of useful information and data, touches upon many serious quesions, and provides some useful ideas and policy recommendations. But the book suffers badly from a poor conceptual framework that gives reader an impression that the authors endeavor to fit the rich stories of development business into a simple "Economics 101" framework. It would have been a sucess if the authors just focus on the political economy of grants and concessional loans. In comparison, William Easterly's "Elusive Quest for Growth" is 10 times more worthwhile to read.
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