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The Sorrows of Carmencita - Argentina's crisis in a historical perspective

IPN Opinion article

May 22, 2002
"After seventy years of rapid growth between 1860 and 1930 came seventy years of stagnation and chaos. The country which, at the beginning of the 20th century, was wealthier than France, Italy and Sweden, is now bankrupt. This unbelievable transformation could never have occurred without both Juan and Evita PerÛn, plus all the blunders achieved by populism, nationalism, protectionism and an increasingly corrupt apparatus of government. After decades of destructive distributive bickering, galloping inflation, political scandals beyond compare and abortive reforms, Argentina has now come to a dramatic crossroads." [Read PDF]
Peter Bauer: Third World Hero?

IPN Opinion article

May 20, 2002
Described as a lone voice in the wilderness, Lord Bauer wrote books which challenged the myth that poverty is self-perpetuating, and he also demonstrated that third world countries are not immune to wealth accumulation. Writing on one of the popularly notions on the cycle of poverty, Bauer noted "Throughout history innumerable individuals, families, groups, societies, and countries - both in West and the Third World - have moved from poverty to prosperity without external donations. All developed countries began as underdeveloped. If the notion of the vicious circle were valid, mankind would still be in the Stone Age at best".
Let Afghans Decide How to Rebuild

IPN Opinion article

May 17, 2002
"In short, while Afghanistan desperately needs help, it doesn't need outsiders to run the show. The international aid community should back off attempts to impose priorities and programs, and to take the lead in implementation. That may have seemed necessary in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, and East Timor, which have no history as independent nations. Afghans know what needs doing far better than the rest of us."
Pipe dreams for the poor

IPN Opinion article

April 3, 2002
The best solution for water misallocation is to get government out of the day-to-day allocation decision-making process. Governments usually will have a significant role in making the initial allocation of water and create the legal framework to allow for water quotas to be traded, but then they must do something that all politicians and bureaucrats find hard to do - stay out of the way.
El Dilema Argentino

IPN Opinion article

March 25, 2002
Argentina ha ca'do v'ctima de las pol'ticas populistas que la han gobernado por m·s de sesenta aÒos, desde que PerÛn tomÛ el control del que fuera uno de los pa'ses m·s exitosos del mundo y diera comienzo a la estrategia que ahora se llamar'a 'redistributiva'. Da as' el puntapiÈ inicial a la debacle que hoy tiene a ese pa's llorando; de ah' en adelante comienza un proceso de erosiÛn institucional que est· a˙n por verse hasta dÛnde llegar·.
SA needs to address land and water rights

IPN Opinion article

March 18, 2002
South Africa, by far the most powerful economy in Africa, could head in the same direction. SA can avoid that fate, but only if it resolves a key issue reasonably equitable allocation of rights to land and water resources and enforcement of those rights. The signs are not promising.
Corruption in Bolivia: Reforming the Judiciary System

IPN Opinion article

March 13, 2002
Citizens in developing nations witness outrageous acts of corruption with no one being held accountable, resulting in a loss of faith in democratic institutions. In Bolivia, the judiciary is endemically corrupted, condemning most of the commercial, civil and public activities to be corrupted too. When those with the legal obligation to guard the legality and rightfulness of civic and official activities are corrupted, economic recovery will take a long time because of the effect corruption has on increasing transaction costs.
Feeding People, Generating Income, Protecting the Environment: The Role of Agricultural Technologies

IPN Opinion article

March 12, 2002
Investment in agricultural research and development in the past few decades has helped to improve the lives of most Indians through enhanced and affordable food supply, boosted incomes for millions of our farmers, and reduced the incidence of famine and starvation despite massive population increases in the past few decades. Nevertheless, food insecurity and malnutrition still persists in India. The causes for poverty and hunger are varied and complex, but experts concur that sustainable agricultural development will be critical in meeting future food needs, reducing poverty and protecting the environment.
Oxfam is full of beans

IPN Opinion article

March 10, 2002
To round out the stereotype, Oxfam\'s campaign is calling for governments to spend up to $100 million to destroy \"surplus\" coffee and prop up prices, and wants the International Coffee Organization to force multinationals to abide by \"fair trade\" coffee standards. Yep, Oxfam wants taxpayers to cough up in order to pay more to drink coffee... Far from the intended consequences, government intervention and \"fair trade\" standards would only worsen the problem for coffee farmers, however. Though it is trendy to blame multinationals for every ill, the real problems that poor farmers face are caused by a lack of infrastructure, distorted EU and U.S. agricultural markets and unheeded economic signals. [For WSJ subscribers http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1033601496319159033.djm,00.html]
I do not need white NGOs to speak for me

IPN Opinion article

March 9, 2002
The hundreds of NGOs and environmental groups assembled at the World Summit on Sustainable Development would like us to believe that they are the best spokesmen for the world's needy. But as First World delegates sat in conference halls and debated, African and Indian farmers hit the streets of Johannesburg to tell the world what they really want and need ó not sustainable development but economic growth. The contrast is stark between many developed country NGOs and the people they claim to represent: wealthy countries want the Earth to be green, the underdeveloped want the Earth fed.