Page 269 - Volume 2_CHANGES_merged_with links

Obstacles to progress

Distortions

system....They explained to me that for 10 years, all those years they were fighting and
the West didn't want to hear about their war. It was only after they started to amputate

people, more people and more people, that the international community was taking
notice of their war. Those simple rebel soldiers in Africa could explain to me how that aid
system works. That alarmed me....

A Security Council report this year concluded that up to half of the World Food program
money -- $485 million per year -- for Somalia is diverted from the people who actually

need it, to a web of corrupt contractors, Islamic militants, and local UN staff members
who are also involved in this scheme. We can shrug our shoulders about $245 million a
year, but in Somalia, this is a lot of money and it is fueling conflict, and it is fuelling the

wrong people. “
"The Case against Aid." 318
Stockman, Farah.
Boston Globe (September 2010)

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“ We show that food aid has little effect on the onset of conflicts, but significantly
increases their duration
***
Governments that receive aid often target it to specific populations, excluding opposition
groups or populations in potentially rebellious regions. This has been noted to increase

hostilities and promote conflict.
***
Our findings show that the concerns of critics are very real and that US food aid indeed

promotes civil conflict on average. An increase in US food aid increases the incidence of
armed civil conflict in recipient countries. US food aid does not crowd out other forms of
aid or aid from other donors.

Thus, the increase in conflict is really due to an increase in aid.
***
we also find that the adverse effects of food aid are concentrated among countries with
a recent history of civil conflict. “

"US Food Aid and Civil Conflict. 319
Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian.
American Economic Review 104, no. 6 (June 1, 2014): 1630–66.

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“ According to our estimates, an increase in US food aid increases the incidence and

duration of civil conflicts, but has no robust effect on interstate conflicts or the onset of