Poverty Point Counterpoint: Sachs and Easterly Tee Off

In today’s Christian Science Monitor, economists Jeffrey Sachs and William Easterly tee off on global poverty once again.

For those of you just tuning in, Sachs and his supporters maintain that given a sufficient level of effective aid, foreign assistance can indeed prove the catalyst to end extreme poverty. Easterly, on the other hand, argues that ending extreme poverty must ultimately be a home-grown effort, through democratic reforms, improved governance, and free markets. Some prominent African opinionmakers, among them Kenyan economist James Shikwati and Tanzanian journalist Ayub Rioba, have even suggested that aid in fact does more harm than good.

Read the article and make up your own mind.

-Porter McConnell