29 July 2005
The Relevance of Millennium Challenge Account Evaluation
The goals of the Millennium Challenge Account instituted by President Bush in 2002 will only preserve the inappropriate framework for economic development in Africa that was imposed by its colonial rulers. You only have to look at this year’s Compact between the Government of Madagascar and the Millennium Challenge Corporation to see how its funds will be devoted to implementing institutions and regulations of the kind that are necessary for the equitable functioning of a Western commercial system. These are the smart policies that James Surowiecki refers to in the July 25, 2005 New Yorker. Unfortunately, that puts the cart before the horse.
The MCA demands lot of documentation in order to demonstrate that foreign aid funds have been spent with financial accountability. In itself, this does not improve the welfare of the intended beneficiaries of that aid. The use of foreign aid in Africa (and other developing countries around the world) should not be regulated according to standards that reflect good practices in donor country markets. It must achieve results that are meaningful in its target societies, and that honor the collective expectations and judgment criteria of their members. The trick is for wealthy governments to develop relevant criteria for assessing the fairness and effectiveness of aid to non-Western economic systems.
The goals of the Millennium Challenge Account instituted by President Bush in 2002 will only preserve the inappropriate framework for economic development in Africa that was imposed by its colonial rulers. You only have to look at this year’s Compact between the Government of Madagascar and the Millennium Challenge Corporation to see how its funds will be devoted to implementing institutions and regulations of the kind that are necessary for the equitable functioning of a Western commercial system. These are the smart policies that James Surowiecki refers to in the July 25, 2005 New Yorker. Unfortunately, that puts the cart before the horse.
The MCA demands lot of documentation in order to demonstrate that foreign aid funds have been spent with financial accountability. In itself, this does not improve the welfare of the intended beneficiaries of that aid. The use of foreign aid in Africa (and other developing countries around the world) should not be regulated according to standards that reflect good practices in donor country markets. It must achieve results that are meaningful in its target societies, and that honor the collective expectations and judgment criteria of their members. The trick is for wealthy governments to develop relevant criteria for assessing the fairness and effectiveness of aid to non-Western economic systems.
24 July 2005
China Has Bought Market Share
In yesterday's New York Times, Louis Uchitelle reported on concerns about the risk that China will cut loose the U.S. economy by forcing a large revaluation of the yuan rate of exchange. But China's strategy is the old mercantilist one again. China has bought U.S. market share for its manufacturers by keeping its exchange rate undervalued. Now, it is in a strong position to increase its revenues from sales in the U.S., allowing it to build capital for acquisitions of multinational corporations, their technologies and world business dominance.
The danger China runs is to wreck the U.S. economy by going too fast. It must continue to invest in U.S. capital markets by buying Treasuries in order to keep interest rates low enough to ballast the consumer demand that generates the flow of cash into its economy. The Chinese government has learned its lesson well about how to succeed in competition with other suppliers of the American consumer. If they also learn that today's interdependent world is not a zero-sum game, they will not allow their economic expansionism to threaten confidence in the dollar.
In yesterday's New York Times, Louis Uchitelle reported on concerns about the risk that China will cut loose the U.S. economy by forcing a large revaluation of the yuan rate of exchange. But China's strategy is the old mercantilist one again. China has bought U.S. market share for its manufacturers by keeping its exchange rate undervalued. Now, it is in a strong position to increase its revenues from sales in the U.S., allowing it to build capital for acquisitions of multinational corporations, their technologies and world business dominance.
The danger China runs is to wreck the U.S. economy by going too fast. It must continue to invest in U.S. capital markets by buying Treasuries in order to keep interest rates low enough to ballast the consumer demand that generates the flow of cash into its economy. The Chinese government has learned its lesson well about how to succeed in competition with other suppliers of the American consumer. If they also learn that today's interdependent world is not a zero-sum game, they will not allow their economic expansionism to threaten confidence in the dollar.
07 July 2005
What’s Important?
All human endeavor is important. Contributing to the welfare of the community is the objective to which the highest value is assigned. Food, shelter, and individual survival are near the top of the list. Close seconds go to generating good relations between individuals and communities, through the arts, civil order, and international politics.
In the end, though, the most important of human endeavors is bearing and raising children—procreation. Preservation of the species means more than multiplying offspring. It means making the world promote the happiness of most people. It means preparing children to improve conditions in the world so that more people are healthy, satisfied, and enabled to continue improving human welfare.
All human activity should be evaluated by its contribution to the successful preservation of the species.
All human endeavor is important. Contributing to the welfare of the community is the objective to which the highest value is assigned. Food, shelter, and individual survival are near the top of the list. Close seconds go to generating good relations between individuals and communities, through the arts, civil order, and international politics.
In the end, though, the most important of human endeavors is bearing and raising children—procreation. Preservation of the species means more than multiplying offspring. It means making the world promote the happiness of most people. It means preparing children to improve conditions in the world so that more people are healthy, satisfied, and enabled to continue improving human welfare.
All human activity should be evaluated by its contribution to the successful preservation of the species.
Liberate Africa from National Governments
In his article in the Wall Street Journal on 5 July 2005, Mr. Moeletsi Mbeki placed the cause of Africa’s economic problems at the feet of the political elites that have run the governments that were established by its colonial rulers. It was certainly narrow-minded of those empire builders to have assumed that the form of civil order that had grown to replace Western monarchies was suitable to the tribal communities that they assembled into “national” units for their own administrative convenience.
The solution to the corrupt and impoverished legacy of colonial rule in Africa can result from republican governments only if Africa is willing to wait centuries for acceptance of the principles that now guide, for example, South Africa. That is the benefit it owes to its unfortunate history of brutal European rule. The quicker path for most of Africa will adopt the tribal customs that have maintained order and equity for millennia. Maintaining the artificial templates of national government in many sub-Saharan African countries only invites entrepreneurial profiteering.
In his article in the Wall Street Journal on 5 July 2005, Mr. Moeletsi Mbeki placed the cause of Africa’s economic problems at the feet of the political elites that have run the governments that were established by its colonial rulers. It was certainly narrow-minded of those empire builders to have assumed that the form of civil order that had grown to replace Western monarchies was suitable to the tribal communities that they assembled into “national” units for their own administrative convenience.
The solution to the corrupt and impoverished legacy of colonial rule in Africa can result from republican governments only if Africa is willing to wait centuries for acceptance of the principles that now guide, for example, South Africa. That is the benefit it owes to its unfortunate history of brutal European rule. The quicker path for most of Africa will adopt the tribal customs that have maintained order and equity for millennia. Maintaining the artificial templates of national government in many sub-Saharan African countries only invites entrepreneurial profiteering.
