Focus on Freedom

It seems obvious that “if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day, if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime”. But, that is not how our foreign aid is appropriated.

"The demand for foreign aid is typically made in the absence of any empirical evidence that it leads to benefits for recipient nations and without asking whether there are better approaches to poverty reduction for the international community to support," Gwartney said. "This research suggests that economic freedom, rather than foreign aid, has a powerful positive impact and is a better approach."

Easterly demonstrates that foreign aid has no positive impact on economic growth in the poorest nations. His research shows that economic freedom can help lift nations out of poverty. Once economic freedom is taken into account, poor nations, far from being caught in a perpetual state of poverty, grow faster than rich nations.

"The bottom line is that the quality of life is higher for those who reside in economies that are more free," Gwartney said. "Free economies grow faster, have a cleaner environment, a lower infant mortality rate and less political corruption. The per capita gross domestic product is about 10 times the income level of the least free quartile. Further, the life expectancy of the freest group is 77 years, compared to 52 years in the least free group."

Florida State University

[From BusinessPundit]

Popularity: 3% [?]