I haven’t read the book, but I would love to.  Unfortunately with my busy schedule, I don’t think I will for a while.  Perhaps if my students decide to talk about environmental issues and consumption, then I’ll quickly get it and assign a few chapters out of it.  However, I’ve been trying to keep up with what the argument is about.

To see Dambisa Moyo give her argument (along with various other thinkers, including Peter Singer), see it here:

The first 20 minutes is Moyo and the last 20 is Singer.

Her argument is very persuasive, in that giving aid to Africa isn’t working.  The reason why is because the aid is actually being funnelled to these corrupt governments.  After all, to give a state aid, the state must give it to the state, in other words, the government.  It’s a government to government funding.  The problem is that when the African government receives the aid, the governments become more corrupt and they keep the money.  With this, the government gets richer whereas the rest of the Africans gets poorer and poorer.

To see in her a humorous role on the Colbert Report, go here.

George Ayittey has said the same thing where you can see his interview here. It’s the same type of argument: aid to Africa isn’t working.  If you want to help Africa, then it must come down to the people, not the state.  You can see it here:

As soon as I read her book, and Singer’s book as well, I will give a book review and compare these two ideas.  It’s an interesting concept that I really didn’t think about before.  She’s also going against the grain because when we think of helping the African nation, we think of giving them more aid.  However, Moyo is saying that it’s actually hurting the Africans.