Why is Africa still the poorhouse of the world despite massive aid?
The author shows by examples that in African countries that have received the greatest development assistance, real per capita income has fallen and the countries today are poorer than they were 30 years ago. He attributes this situation to self-help forces having been suffocated by an excess of aid and to capital flight. He suggests making the allocation of aid more dependent upon the performance of the recipient countries. The main objective of development policy is to promote countries that are in the pre-industrial stage until they have achieved self-sustaining growth. Several countries have now reached that point. Given the financial difficulties of most donor countries, the question arises of whether international development cooperation should not be limited to those states which still urgently need assistance and use it sensibly. The author is aware that it is impossible to determine an academically unassailable ceiling for the level of development at which assistance is no lon
