Sue Chu

Capstone 7
Greene
October 11, 2016
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8 Source Analysis
Moyo, D. (2009). Dead aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for
Africa. Macmillan.
Source Validation: The author of this book, Dambisa Moyo, holds a Ph.D. in economics
from Oxford University and worked for the World Bank as a consultant. She also worked
at Goldman Sachs for eight years.
How did you find this source?: I found this book on Google Scholar and got it in the
library.
Intended audience: The intended audience is for anyone that want to see change with
the foreign aid administration in Africa and for Africans and policy makers who can
absorb the knowledge.
What arguments/topics does this source discuss?: In this chapter of the book, the
author provides the reasons or the excuses for the failing aid in Africa. First, based on
Jared Diamonds Guns, Germs , Steel, geography and environment determines
development. But, Africa, with its vast lands and abundant resources, did not have
economic success and because of the commodity windfalls in 1970 the african economy
deteriorated. Second, historically, colonialism divided Africa in a way that fosters tension
and disparity. Racial tensions contribute to rivalry and violence. This also means that
governments would be divided. Finally, the absences of a strong, transparent, and
credible public institutions is another factor contributing to the aid issue. While none of
these issues can be undermined in the consideration of slow development, no factor
should or could contribute to a permanent failure. Aid in africa was originally based off
of the Marshall Plan.The problem with this is: Africa is different from Europe, where the
aid to Europe was for reconstruction, the aid to africa is for development. Issues with aid
arises in African countries because aid is a continuous source of income, theres no
reason to find alternative fund and no incentive for long term financial planning.
Furthermore few African countries actually follow the conditionalities for aid. And the
micro- macro paradox gives a disillusion that aid is working short term when it is actually
falling long term. Another issue with aid is democracy, while most donors believe that
democracy is the key to economic success, the author believes that democracy hampers
development what african countries really need is a benevolent dictator to enforce
policies and reforms. Democracy is stable with more developed countries rather than
developing countries. While there are proof that aid has helped improve democracy in
Africa, there are no evidence to say that democracy benefited the implementation of aid

in Africa. All these reasons stated above contribute to a dependency of foreign aid for
African countries.
6. Minimum 3 quotes, paraphrases, summaries of source text that seem likely to be
helpful in future writing:
Civil war costs around 4 times the GDP of a country
Conditionalities are rules and regulations set by the donor t which usually determines
the results of of aid. 1. procurement 2. donor select project 3. Economic and political
policy. these often fail to constrain corruption and are often ignored in practice
Macro-macro paradox - most aid dependent countries has shown a minus 0.2% growth
rates per annum in the past thirty years.