The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty by R. Glenn Hubbard & William Duggan

Author:R. Glenn Hubbard & William Duggan [Hubbard, R. Glenn & Duggan, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Business & Economics, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780231145626
Google: wIbGAgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 6094532
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2009-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

5

CHASE THE DEVIL

Details for a Marshall Model

The older agrarian regimes worked as interlocking systems. It was difficult to take an axe to one part without destroying the whole.

—MARC BLOCH, FRENCH RURAL HISTORY

The great historian Marc Bloch showed in meticulous detail how difficult it was and how long it took for the old feudal regimes of France to yield to new commercial agriculture. Feudalism had four centuries to take root in France, and over the next four centuries the business system replaced it. That is a warning. There is no quick and easy way for the aid system to yield to a normal pro-business system in the poor countries of the world. The aid system has been with us only five decades, but in that short time its scale and complexity have come to rival the feudal system of Bloch’s old France. It will likely take at least four decades for the business system to overtake it.

The previous chapter outlined in broad strokes a decade of funding and spending for an ECA and an ECA Foundation that would apply the business model of the Marshall Plan to poor countries. Both institutions would likely need to continue in some form for at least another three decades. They would adjust over time to changing circumstances, along with the world economy and the poor countries themselves. This chapter offers some possible details on how to structure the first decade. In particular, we look to integrate elements from recent or current programs, especially those that already target the business sector in poor countries. As with our look back to the original Marshall Plan, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. We can pick out what we need in the future from the vast storehouse of the past.

The devil is in the details, and here we dive into them. The result is a list of many actions, some large and some small, for the future ECA and ECA Foundation to undertake. They might seem piecemeal, and that’s right. The result is not a single coordinated plan, a giant clockwork with the pieces all moving in synch, but rather an umbrella for many different parts moving in many different directions at many different times in many different places, to make a complex, diverse ecosystem. That’s how business works, and how the original Marshall Plan succeeded.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.