Want to help starving Africans? Think in business terms, rather than “international aid.”
It’s a message June Arunga shares in Tom Palmer’s new book, The Morality of Capitalism. Arunga is an entrepreneur with firsthand knowledge of the problems associated with government-driven efforts to boost African economies.
We should ask what our governments are doing to us, not just for us. Our own governments are hurting us: they steal from us, they stop us from trading, and they keep the poor down. Local investors are not allowed to compete because of the lack of the rule of law in low-income countries. Maybe that’s why they’re low-income countries — because the people are not respected by their own governments.
Many governments of poor countries are focused on attracting “foreign investors,” but they don’t let their own people into the market. Opening up the market and competition to local people is not on their agendas. Local people have the insight, the understanding, and the “local knowledge.” But our own governments in Africa keep their own people out of the market in favor of foreign or local special interest groups. …
… Our prosperity as Africans won’t come from foreign aid or easy money. We’ve had plenty of that in Africa, but it hasn’t had a positive impact on the lives of the poor. That kind of “aid” spawns corruption and undermines the rule of law.
Arunga’s comments might remind you of the ideas New York University economist William Easterly shared during his 2009 Pope Lecture at N.C. State University.
