Dambisa Moyo on the problems of aid dependency

Dambisa Moyo's talk at the Commonwealth Club of California. She outlines the thesis in her book "Dead Aid" and explains why business and trade are better than aid dependency (June 5th, 2009).

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Dambisa
• Moyo
• Africa
• Aid
• Capitalism
• Trade
• Investment
• Dead
• California
• Commonwealth
• Club

[donatafolla]

you have an awesome video..thanks for sharing!

[dnifty1]

The problem I was pointing out is that no form of serious development in Africa will happen without planning and that planning is implicitly based around creating and sustaining communities, economic systems and industries FOR AFRICANS.

The point is that the plan is necessary in order to build an economic system of trade, commerce and development that is the PRIMARY means for Africans getting the good and services they will need going into the future. That does not come from AID.

[dnifty1]

PLANNING is used to determine how much infrastructure is required to meet the needs of housing, development and infrastructure for a region based on forecasts of population growth and settlement. From this comes plans for financing, plans for economic development to support growth and analysis of the resources required to support such development. This becomes part of the demand forecast within various resource markets like steel, copper, etc.

Planning is a standard part of development.

[davidg1234]

dnifty1, it sounds like you have fallen in to the same trap as the people pushing for aid and NGO central planning for Africa. How on earth can a Central Govt predict the steel requirements of every single business in their country? It is the market that decides, not the Government. Africans must be empowered to respond to market opportunities and not be held back by arbitrary government plans. The players are not for the Govt to decide, that is for free men to decide.

[dnifty1]

The governments role in all of this is to provide a framework and plan for the benefit of all parties.

So for example, how much steel is required to build the infrastructure required in Southern Africa over the next 40 years? How much growth will occur in cash, jobs and business opportunities according to this forecast? The next step is to ensure that the system is in place to enact the plan: financing, industry and so forth. Who are the players and what do they bring to the table?

[dnifty1]

What I said was that the economy of Africa is still largely based on the colonial model. The colonial model was a policy, a system and a plan for creating a network of white enterprises that would be mutually supporting of based off the labor and resources of Africans. Africans were relegated to being peasant laborers who owned nothing and were shut out of the network. What Africans need is a system of economics to benefit AFRICANS, not a system based on exploiting their labor and resources.

[dnifty1]

It is all about the network of industry and trade and whether or not it benefits Africans. If there are a whole host of industries in South Africa that make all sorts of specialty pipe and tube along with systems for flow regulation, then why don't Africans have irrigation systems for their farms? How else are bridges going to get built, electrical plants and irrigation systems? By industry. Government doesn't do it, industry does. But this industry only currently serves whites.

[davidg1234]

What does colonialism have to do with anything? India was colonized but they embraced globalization and are benefiting from the comparative advantage of us outsourcing customer service and other industries over there. Who is stopping Africa from building infrastructure? You have been vague about what you are actually proposing but you seem to think that if Africa builds a big brick wall around it and turns isolationist then all their problems will be solved.

[dnifty1]

You buying "cheap African goods" is not the issue. The issue is Africans having an economic system that gives them access to all the goods and services from Africa and elsewhere PROVIDE for their own well being. The colonial history of UK built the system that allows you to get cheap products from Africa, Asia and everywhere else. You having access to cheap products does not equate to Africans having access to proper infrastructure or health care. THAT system is not created by AID.

[davidg1234]

But that is what Dambisa is arguing for. Eg, as a UK citizen I could be helping Africa significantly without even having to think about it. If I go to the shops and the cheapest products are from Africa, they are the ones I will buy, and Africa will receive a lot of my money. But instead we both have to suffer from import tariffs and protectionism and then I get emotional blackmail to help Africa instead. If there wasn't protectionism then an enormous % of my income would be going to Africa!