I’d also like to reiterate the arguments Larry Temkin gave against international aid, since the post doesn’t cover them. I’m not sure if I’m convinced by these arguments, but I do find them reasonable and worth serious consideration.
Opportunity cost of local human resources: International aid agencies tend to hire competent local people in the country they operate in (e.g. Sub-Saharan African countries), but these competent people could otherwise serve in important roles for the development of the local society.
Corruption: Lots of international aid funds are corrupted by government officials and local thugs (and such corruption is often covered up). Often, the corrupted funds then go on to fuel the agenda of thugs or malevolent political actors, which is harmful to the people of the aided nation.
In addition to the two empirical arguments above, he also gave normative arguments, but those arguments are commonly raised and rather well-known by EAs, so I don’t repeat them here.
I’d also like to reiterate the arguments Larry Temkin gave against international aid, since the post doesn’t cover them. I’m not sure if I’m convinced by these arguments, but I do find them reasonable and worth serious consideration.
Opportunity cost of local human resources: International aid agencies tend to hire competent local people in the country they operate in (e.g. Sub-Saharan African countries), but these competent people could otherwise serve in important roles for the development of the local society.
Corruption: Lots of international aid funds are corrupted by government officials and local thugs (and such corruption is often covered up). Often, the corrupted funds then go on to fuel the agenda of thugs or malevolent political actors, which is harmful to the people of the aided nation.
In addition to the two empirical arguments above, he also gave normative arguments, but those arguments are commonly raised and rather well-known by EAs, so I don’t repeat them here.