Reminds me of when I was in Iraq. American troops were running around giving away free soccer balls and candy to local kids. One day my interpreter mentioned to me, “you know, those kids have parents and those parents can buy their kids candy and soccer balls if they wanted them to have them. Do you let your kids take candy from foreign soldiers on the street?”.
It is the same truth everywhere. Massive food aid to Somalia in the 1990’s put farmers out of business. out of work farmers didn’t tend the land. A few years later, the land is untended and untenable. The warlords were stealing the food aid and selling it. By doing so, they actually created markets where local farmers could compete, (though it is hard to compete when your competitors get their products for free).
Wow; very counter-intuitive, at least for me.
Reminds me of when I was in Iraq. American troops were running around giving away free soccer balls and candy to local kids. One day my interpreter mentioned to me, “you know, those kids have parents and those parents can buy their kids candy and soccer balls if they wanted them to have them. Do you let your kids take candy from foreign soldiers on the street?”.
It is the same truth everywhere. Massive food aid to Somalia in the 1990’s put farmers out of business. out of work farmers didn’t tend the land. A few years later, the land is untended and untenable. The warlords were stealing the food aid and selling it. By doing so, they actually created markets where local farmers could compete, (though it is hard to compete when your competitors get their products for free).