Very little, argues one book; quite a lot, says another; a huge amount, contends a third. It all depends on the quality of both the donor and the recipient. Does Aid Work?
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Aid to Our Very World
After decades of scepticism about development aid, the west is embracing it again... As James Cumes in his thought-provoking essay points out: The dilemma is not insoluble. The solution is there waiting for us to grasp. What is more, it is as simple as the solution which, after the Second World War, we applied to correct the economic and other miseries that had plagued us during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
As we were coming out of World War Two, a great part of the world was in ruins: almost the whole of Europe as well as much of Asia and the Pacific. Weestablished the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration(UNRRA) to deliver emergency aid. A Commission for the Reconstruction ofDevastated Areas in both Europe and Asia evolved into the United NationsCommissions for Europe (ECE) and for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE). Manydistinguished economists and other professionals worked on these bodies.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were very different bodies from what they are now. Both were expected to help the majorcountries - the G7 of the postwar period, if you like - to avoid themiseries of the Great Depression of the 1930s and achieve full employmentand economic stability. The World Bank would provide funds for relativelyrich countries, such as Britain or Canada or Australia, to embark on majorinfrastructure projects and so enhance their fixed-capital investment,productivity and production. The IMF would enable the same countries - and others, of course - to maintain stable exchange rates, free convertibilityand non-discrimination in financial transactions.
UNRRA largely succeeded in its work of relief and rehabilitation. The chaos and suffering of the postwar period was cleared away more quickly throughthe food, clothing, shelter and medical supplies that it was able to supply to the needy in Europe, Asia and the Pacific.
• 23 April 2005 Aid Part of Life [We can never get rid of risk, because it is an integral part of life. Without risk, there is no opportunity, and without the endless quest for opportunity business - and life itself - would grind to a halt. Too many people in the modern world are trying to make risk disappear. Risk is good - learn to manage it ; If you have have a vision, pursue it. Even if it fails, it will be a valuable lesson Never be afraid to succeed ]
• · New perspective inserts road map back into the big picture ; Do today's politicians really understand that it is the public who elects them? Are the demands of a political career simply too great for outsiders - not party apparatchiks, but real people - to be able to win seats in Parliament? The politics of dullness
• · · Margy Osmond said the formula used to distribute GST was "grossly unfair" to NSW and worked too much to the advantage of states like Queensland Firms asked to join in GST fight ; The former assistant tax commissioner Nick Petroulias was accused yesterday of being both gamekeeper and poacher when, from 1997 to 1999, he issued about 70 private binding tax rulings Fraud trial told of tax officer's double dealing
• · · · Terror in the Past And Future Tense