2007
William Easterly
American Economic Review, Vol. 97, No. 2, 328-332.

Was Development Assistance a Mistake?
Development assistance is the combination of money, advice, and conditions provided by rich nations and international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is designed to achieve economic development in poor nations. This article argues that development assistance was based on three assumptions that, with the benefit of hindsight (although a wise few also had foresight), turned out to have been mistaken . . .