Daily Archives: March 27, 2009

William Easterly: Is the UK Propping Up Autocrats, or Merely Wasting Money?

William Easterly and Laura Freschi, writing for AidWatch, kick the aid anthill by claiming European aid agencies (particularly the UK’s DfID) are supporting autocratic governments instead of people by pumping money directly into national budgets, rather than development programs. A flurry of blog posts follow; we’re wading in. Easterly and Freschi’s argument is essentially this:…

View from the Street: Cambodia

— Image: Meghann Sheridan (CC by/nc)

Hamid Karzai Declares Assets

Afghan President Hamid Karzai provided a public asset disclosure and suggested that all government officials do the same. But Karzai also had harsh words for critics calling for better anti-corruption in Afghanistan. “Foreigners have defamed Afghanistan so badly in terms of corruption. But it’s not as serious as they think,” he said. Reuters has Karzai’s…