The New York Times: A Timely Departure

The Economist: MCC hammered

Last Sunday on their editorial page, The New York Times trashed the Millenium Challenge Corporation, President Bush's flagship development assistance program, for not spending enough money and for focusing on land-titling and bank reform. Yesterday, The Economist responded by trashing The NYT for treating private sector development and economic growth as insignificant. The article from The NYT reveals a central problem with government aid: potential political supporters tend to focus on how much money is spent by the donor to judge its success, rather than how effectively those spent funds reduced poverty.