From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Aug 06 2008 - 09:43:50 EDT
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11503&mode=toc
Reinventing Foreign Aid
Edited by William Easterly
Foreword by Nancy Birdsall
Table of Contents and Sample Chapters
The urgency of reducing poverty in the developing world has been the subject
of a public campaign by such unlikely policy experts as George Clooney,
Alicia Keyes, Elton John, Angelina Jolie, and Bono. And yet accompanying the
call for more foreign aid is an almost universal discontent with the
effectiveness of the existing aid system. In *Reinventing Foreign
Aid,*development expert William Easterly has gathered top scholars in
the field
to discuss how to improve foreign aid. These authors, Easterly points out,
are not claiming that their ideas will (to invoke a current slogan) Make
Poverty History. Rather, they take on specific problems and propose some
hard-headed solutions.
Easterly himself, in an expansive and impassioned introductory chapter,
makes a case for the "searchers"--who explore solutions by trial and error
and learn from feedback--over the "planners"--who throw an endless supply of
resources at a big goal--as the most likely to reduce poverty. Other writers
look at scientific evaluation of aid projects (including randomized trials)
and describe projects found to be cost-effective, including vaccine delivery
and HIV education; consider how to deal with the government of the recipient
state (work through it or bypass a possibly dysfunctional government?);
examine the roles of the International Monetary Fund (a de facto aid
provider) and the World Bank; and analyze some new and innovative proposals
for distributing aid.
*Contributors*:
Abhijit Banerjee, Nancy Birdsall, Craig Burnside, Esther Duflo, Domenico
Fanizza, William Easterly, Ruimin He, Kurt Hoffman, Stephen Knack, Michael
Kremer, Mari Kuraishi, Ruth Levine, Bertin Martens, John McMillan, Edward
Miguel, Jonathan Morduch, Todd Moss, Gunilla Pettersson, Lant Pritchett,
Steven Radelet, Aminur Rahman, Ritva Reinikka, Jakob Svensson, Nicolas van
de Walle, James Vreeland, Dennis Whittle, Michael Woolcock.
*About the Editor*
William Easterly is the author of *The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists'
Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics* (MIT Press, 2001) and *The
White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much
Ill and So Little Good.* He is Professor of Economics at New York University
(Joint with Africa House), Codirector of NYU's Development Research
Institute, visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Nonresident
Fellow of the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC.
Endorsements
"This book is topical, academically rigorous, and wide ranging. A high
quality collection!"
--*Christopher Scott*, London School of Economics
"Enhancing aid effectiveness requires a holistic approach. This outstanding
book provides rich food for thought, with expert contributions spanning the
range from evaluation to institutional design and new approaches in
providing aid. A must-read for all scholars and practitioners interested in
making aid work."
--*Holger Wolf*, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
"It is ironic that, at a time when aid flows to the poorest countries of the
world are reaching unprecedented scale, and when the challenge of generating
resources to fight world poverty is receiving unprecedented public
attention, the question of what actually works in making aid effective has
become extremely controversial. Fortunately, a new generation of development
researchers has turned its attention to this question, bringing to bear a
variety of innovative and refreshingly convincing new empirical techniques.
This volume edited by William Easterly brings together contributions from
many of the leading lights in this field, providing a rich menu of
perspectives not only on what has been learned through this new work, but
also on how much remains to be learned. It is an accessible must-read not
only for students and academics, but more importantly for those in the
policy world who will participate in making the critical decisions on how
aid will be administered, as well as for the citizens who will hold them
accountable for those decisions."
--*Peter Montiel*, Fred Greene Third Century Professor of Political Economy,
Williams College
Reinventing Foreign Aid
Edited by William Easterly
Foreword by Nancy Birdsall
Foreword by Nancy Birdsall
*[image: Download Chapter as PDF] Sample Chapter - Download PDF (44 KB)
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/0262550660forw1.pdf* ix 1 Introduction:
Can't Take It Anymore?
William Easterly
*[image: Download Chapter as PDF] Sample Chapter - Download PDF (269 KB)*
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/0262550660chap1.pdf 1 I THE POWER OF
SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION—AND WHY ISN'T IT DONE MORE OFTEN? 45 2 Making Aid
Work
Abhijit Banerjee and Ruimin He 47 3 Use of Randomization in the Evaluation
of Development Effectiveness
Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer 93 4 It Pays to Be Ignorant
A Simple Political Economy of Rigorous Program Evaluation
Lant Pritchett 121 II THE PROBLEMS OF AID-FINANCED DELIVERY OF PUBLIC
SERVICES
THE GORDIAN KNOT OF THE STATE 145 5 Solutions When the Solution Is the
Problem
Arraying the Disarray in Development
Lant Pritchett and MIchael Woolcock 147 6 Donors and Service Delivery
Ritva Reinikka 179 7 The Illusion of Sustainability
Michael Kremer and Edward Miguel 201 8 An Aid-Institutions Paradox?
A Review Essay on Aid Dependency and State Building in Sub-Saharan Africa
Todd Moss, Gunilla Pettersson and Nicolas van de Walle 255 III DYSFUNCTIONAL
DONORS AND HOW TO REFORM THEM 283 9 Why Do Aid Agencies Exist?
Bertin Martens 285 10 Absorption Capacity and Disbursement Constraints
Jakob Svensson 311 11 Donor Fragmentation
Stephen Knack and Aminur Rahman 333 IV THE IMF AND WORLD BANK 349 12 The
IMF and Economic Development
James Raymond Vreeland 351 13 The Knowledge Bank
Jonathan Morduch 377 14 Debt Relief and Fiscal Sustainability for Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries
Craig Burnside and Domenico Fanizza 399 V IMAGINING NEW FORMS OF FOREIGN
AID 415 15 Making Vaccines Pay
Michael Kremer 417 16 Can We Build a Better Mousetrap?
Three New Institutions Designed to Improve Aid Effectiveness
Steven Radelet and Ruth Levine 431 VI IN CONCLUSION: THE BIG PICTURE 503
19 Avoid Hubris: And Other Lessons for Reformers
John McMillan 505 20 Seven Deadly Sins: Reflections on Donor Failings
Nancy Birdsall 515 Contributors
*[image: Download Chapter as PDF] Sample Chapter - Download PDF (48 KB)*
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/0262550660refs1.pdf 553 Index
*[image: Download Chapter as PDF] Sample Chapter - Download PDF (101 KB)*
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/0262550660index1.pdf 555
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----