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January 17, 2005
Aid is not the key to relieving poverty
In yet another top-quality leading article in The Business Andrew Neil adds a note of realism to Gordon Brown’s crusade for poverty relief.
Peter Bauer, the great champion of poverty relief by means of free markets and free trade, once quipped that foreign aid was a system by which the poor people in rich countries subsidised the rich few in poor countries. To be sceptical about aid seems harsh to most people, but escaping from poverty does not depend on foreign aid – it is only possible where governments keep order, protect property and ensure that agreements are honoured, so that all are free to use their talents and energies as they believe best. The countries that remain poor today have governments that have not created these conditions.
Posted by David Green at January 17, 2005 11:43 AM
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