From Aid to Equality
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Tim Harford gives his Top Ten economists on Twitter. The one most known to this readership is @dambisamoyo. Then Tim adds another category:
Honourable mentions – a subjective combination of econ tweeters who are popular, interesting or under-appreciated
I will overlook Tim's blatant self-promotion of including @TimHarford on this list, in return for blatantly noting that he also includes @bill_easterly.
People on Twitter yesterday and today called attention to this thought-provoking critique of yours truly (from Chris Conrad at his blog The Big-Push: Development and Aid Effectiveness)
I did want to take issue with one of Easterly's tweets from yesterday, in which he sardonically impugns USAID's efforts in Afghanistan, suggesting that the most benefit Afghanis have realized from USAID's years of war-time effort is the use of USAID-labeled vegetable oil cans to set up live WIFI nodes in Jalalabad, Afghanistan....This is a very unproductive and mean-spirited use of anybody's time. I honestly have no idea what Easterly expects the response to such a post to be -- this adds nothing to the debate, and perversely co-opts what is otherwise very positive news into an outlet for his nihilistic worldview.
To be intellectually consistent, I have to praise criticism of myself as much as I advocate criticism of aid agencies. So thank you, Chris, for taking the time to give me thoughtful feedback. I read something like this and I re-examine if I am going too far in ridiculing unproductive aid organizations. I will consider whether to dial it down.
At the same time, I still believe in vigorous criticism of aid when it deserves it. In other fields, we recognize a constructive role of even very harsh criticism. Alec Baldwin joked at the Oscars last night that James Cameon had sent his rival director and ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow a good-luck present of "a Toyota." This is a mean-spirited joke at the expense of a corporation that has years of quality service to consumers except for one recent accelerator pedal malfunction. And Toyota deserves every bit of it.
"Aid effectiveness" is a sleep-inducing word that has resulted in endless rounds of summits and declarations ("Accra Agenda for Aid Effectiveness, etc.) and little action. USAID is a politically entrenched bureaucracy that has gotten away with scandalous waste of billions of aid in Afghanistan. A mean-spirited joke at their expense is among the least of the consequences they should suffer.
Live T only from opening session, except for last. Conference (see agenda here) finished at 2pm. Further news coming on this blog from material presented at conference by speakers Yaw Nyarko, Bill Easterly, Clare Lockhart, Isabel Guerrero, Andrew Mwenda, and Lant Pritchett.
I just found out about another contribution to the exploding development satire field. It's in EXTREMELY bad taste, is often disgusting, and always features lacerating and offensive satire ... therefore, some of you will LOVE it.
It's based around a blog called HR International (to keep our blog's PG-13 rating, I will not at this time spell out what HR stands for). I found out about it because I am one of the 3 people that @hreliefint is now following on Twitter, along with @jeffdsachs and @talesfromthehood (the latter tipped me off).
A sample of of the HRI blog (from the small part that is printable in a family blog):
Ed and I know a thing or two about emergency coordination as we go back to the days in Aceh, where I’ve hired him to develop HRIs fishing-boat distribution strategy, a program that is currently being monitored and evaluated by HRIs M&E wing: initial findings indicate that this program will become yet another world’s best practice. The 800,000 or so USD that have remained unspent in that program will come in handy as HRI is preparing a dignified launch of the findings report in Bali, with a mass distribution component aimed at making one M&E report available to each family in Aceh and beyond.
What accounts for the explosion in development satire? Of course, I am as guilty as anyone. Based on random introspection, observation of a selection-biased sample of the aid industry, and unfounded guesses, the answer is obvious: it's because of the increase in BS in development & aid. As the BS force keeps exponentially growing, there was bound to be an opposite force of protest.
We are using the only weapon that us weak people oppressed by the BS ruling elites can use: satire. As BS keeps rising, satire is going to keep exploding in revolt. A few of us (not me) may go over the edge to the extremes of the HRI blog. So, just to be clear, you BS'ers in aid: all this bad taste is YOUR fault.
@chrissiy: links for Chile mapping response including Google tools, @Ushahidi http://bit.ly/b80EvW
@saundra_s Latest Post: Chile may not need or want foreign assistance http://bit.ly/cLct9C
@AidNews Chile earthquake: Emergency funds released http://dlvr.it/3mL5
@AidNews PHOTOS: Massive quake hits Chile http://dlvr.it/3lwR
@dfid_uk #Chile #earthquake : A #DFID assessment team is on standby. We remain ready to provide humanitarian support if needed http://ow.ly/1c7qB
@dfid_uk RT @foreignoffice: British Ambassador to #Chile describes 'impressive' rescue effort after earthquake yesterday http://ow.ly/1c8Ho
@GlobalGiving New Project! GlobalGiving Relief Fund for Earthquake in Chile http://ow.ly/16GltH
@Oxfam Oxfam sends staff to respond to #Chile #Earthquake http://bit.ly/cTvAYn #terremotochile
@Oxfam Oxfam emergency response team due in Santiago, Chile this pm (Mon) 3pm local time http://www.bit.ly/cTvAYn #earthquake
@sociolingo RT @caribnews: Amazing photo essay of the earthquake in #Chile. (high quality images from AP/Getty/AFP) http://bit.ly/aNv8RV
@carlosmontes1 @bill_easterly but please let's not use this natural disaster as yet another intellectual opportunity to make points about aid
@carlosmontes1 good point, can you explain more what would bother you?
carlosmontes1 @bill_easterly thanks! it would b sad (but human) 4 "aid experts" 2 become disaster paparazzis, now is time 4 ushahidi etc not grand theories
@ithorpe: http://is.gd/9s3Ih"UNICEF and partners stand ready to help after massive earthquake strikes Chile"
@ithorpe: Relief web updates on Chile http://is.gd/9s5HK (incl. OCHA sitreps)
As of 11 am today (2/26), Jeff Sachs has started posting on Twitter as @jeffdsachs. Here is some of the early traffic in which yours truly has a tiny stake (I have omitted who did the T for privacy):
(anon): Just noticed that @bill_easterly is following @jeffdsachs but not vice versa / Hilarious
@bill_easterly: This hurts :>) RT Just noticed that @bill_easterly is following @jeffdsachs but not vice versa
@jeffdsachs: Hello friends, thank you for the warm welcome.
@jeffdsachs: RT @EndOfPoverty: mobile phones and internet in Africa means changes to life in fields, in clinics,... http://fb.me/5LOwcWe
@bill_easterly: I agree w u on mobile potential RT @jeffdsachs mobile phones in Africa means changes to life in fields, in clinics,... http://fb.me/5LOwcWe
(anon): Pigs just flew!! RT @bill_easterly: Agree w u on mobile potential RT @jeffdsachs mobiles in Africa means changes to,... http://fb.me/5LOwcWe
(anon): WHAT? My entire belief system just corroded to nothing RT @bill_easterly I agree w u on mobile potential RT @jeffdsachs http://fb.me/5LOwcWe
(anon): Hell just froze over! RT @bill_easterly:I agree w/ u on mobile potential RT @jeffdsachs mobile phones in Africa (cont) http://tl.gd/c0m70
(anon): Ahem, @jeffdsachs where are you? The whole developmentgeek twittersphere is waiting for you to reply to @bill_easterly
OK let's remain calm. It's only been one hour, and Professor Sachs may have a less compulsive/healthier relationship with his iPhone/Crackberry than some of the rest of us.
*&^$#@%*()^% I just burnt the cookies, gotta go.
UPDATE: 3/1/10 8:16am: another T from Jeff:
@jeffdsachs: @uncultured Thank you so much for the kind words. Your project is amazing and your videos, truly inspiring. Keep up the great work! {about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck}
in response to:
@uncultured: The one who inspired me to believe we can end extreme poverty (and to start my project) is now on Twitter - @JeffDSachs #FollowFriday
A Post From @kiwanja UPDATE 2/24 3:30 PM. There have been a lot of great comments and discussion back and forth.
Another post from @transitionland:
Bill Easterly’s cheap, ignorant Afghanistan snark...
Mark Thoma has a different take on Davos than our little dust-up on this blog about Refugee Run:
Faced with the opportunity of a generation to fix global finances, the world’s most powerful people went skiing.
Perhaps @amonck would like to start a dialogue with Professor Thoma?
Maybe I can "help." I think Davos has always been oversold as a global problem-solver, in the same category as G-7 summits. There is no good historical evidence that grand international meetings devoted to collective international action to solve problems successfully do so.
Within seconds of the unveiling of the iPad by Steve Jobs, Twitter lit up with women complaining and/or joking that the name immediately made them think of a certain feminine hygiene product. #iTampon was the #1 trending topic on Twitter yesterday and remains so this morning. Could this be one of those unintentionally revealing moments that women's rights in the US has not come as far as we thought? That women did not have enough voice or power within a major US corporation for it to anticipate this marketing blunder? That this wouldn't have happened if the head of Apple were named Stephanie Jobs?
That maybe along with dumping all over those evil Third World men that keep women down, awareness that there is a wee shortfall in women's equality in the First World?
Another lesson from this episode is the democratizing power of Twitter. None of the major newspapers (defined as the 3 that I get every morning: NYT, WSJ, and FT) mentioned the controversy in print today. Maybe women don't have enough voice or power at newspapers either. (The WSJ does have an online article on it, although it is mostly just describing what happened on Twitter.) But Twitter is a more democratic medium that allowed women (and their male friends) to voice bemusement, anger, and ridicule. One small step for women, maybe some day a giant leap for womankind.
UPDATE: Dennis Whittle points out that sanitary pads actually ARE a development issue.
