Lord Peter Bauer

"Aid is a process by which the poor in rich countries subsidise the rich in poor countries."

"Aid doesn’t go to the miserable creatures you see on your television screen, it goes to the rulers. And the rulers tend to be the most prosperous people in their countries."

Will the Jeff Sachs-type ever learn the great wisdom contained in the above quotes?

The above quotes are from Lord Peter Bauer. And he also warned us that using the word "aid" is misleading, a better description is "government-to-government" transfer. Read an excellent interview of Lord Bauer by IEA's John Blundell here.

In this interview Lord Bauer also pointed out using the Marshall Plan as an example in support of aid was bogus. "There was no comparison at all between foreign aid and the Marshall Plan. The economies of western Europe had to be restored, not developed. The economies of the so-called Third World, to use a fashionable cliché, had to be developed. With Marshall aid, West Germany and western Europe had to be restored, not developed."

BTW, Lord Bauer was awarded Cato's Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty in 2002.