Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo



Dambisa is a Harvard trained economist economist from Zambia, whose career has included working at Goldman Sachs and the World Bank. In "Dead Aid" she analyzes the reasons behind prevailing extreme poverty in her native Africa despite the billions of dollars flowing to the continent from the Western world.

Her answer is simple: Africans don't need left-leaning elitist snobs like Geoffrey Sachs or Bill Clinton to come up with all kinds of solutions their problems. They are not incompetent fools that will all die of hunger the very moment the international aid stops flowing. On the contrary without the international aid, the African governments will be forced to launch reforms that will enable economic growth and fight the corruption in order to raise tax revenues to compensate for the loss of international aid money. The businessmen will be forced to start caring about their customers instead of focusing on strengthening political connections.

She is also very critical of self proclaimed celebrity saviors and spokesmen of Africa like Bono and Bob Geldof. According to her, Live Aid has turned the discourse about Africa into a discotheque. "How would Americans feel if Amy Winehouse started to give the US government advice about the credit crunch? And was listened to?” she asks.

Dead Aid is an interesting book written by a successful black woman who succeeded on her own merits without profiting from the white guilt. Also, she's not that bad looking and would make an interesting addition to the "Ghetto Gaggers" series.