Opening markets in developed countries to trade from less developed ones is a more effective strategy to reduce poverty than foreign aid, say John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge of the Los Angeles Times.
Foreign aid generally does little to alleviate structural poverty; instead, it usually falls into the hands of dictators. This explains, in part, why sub-Saharan real per capita income fell over the last three decades despite the world spending some $100 billion on aid.
Trade, by contrast, has a more reliable track record at improving living standards:
Source: John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, The Silent Disaster of World Poverty, Los Angeles Times, January 10, 2005.
For text: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-micklethwait10jan10,0,744284.story
For more on Benefits of Trade: http://www.ncpa.org/iss/tra/
FMF Policy Bulletin/ 01 February 2005
