Jeff Sachs believes that the best way to alleviate global poverty is through massive doses of foreign aid (The End of Poverty). Michael Strong in his book Be the Solution offers a wager to compare two sets of countries after 20 years (p 190): Sachs–The 20 nations that have received the most government-to-government foreign aid as percentage of per capita GDP; Strong–The 20 nations that have experienced the greatest increases in economic freedom as measured by the Fraser Economic Freedom Index.
Compare these two sets of 20 nations 20 years from now and settle the debate whether foreign aid or economic freedom helps alleviate poverty.
Do we really have to wait for 20 years or could we just see the data from the last 20 years, 1990-2010?
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The opinions expressed in this essay are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of CCS.
