New research shows that developing countries send
trillions of dollars more to the west than the other way around. Why?
Janon Hickel
We have long been told a compelling story about the relationship between
rich countries and poor countries. The story holds that the rich nations of the
OECD give generously of their wealth to the poorer nations of the global south,
to help them eradicate poverty and push them up the development ladder. Yes,
during colonialism western powers may have enriched themselves by extracting
resources and slave labour from their colonies – but that’s all in the past.
These days, they give more than $125bn
(£102bn) in aid each year – solid evidence of their benevolent
goodwill.
This story is so
widely propagated by the aid industry and the governments of the rich world
that we have come to take it for granted. But it may not be as simple as it
appears.
The US-based Global Financial
Integrity (GFI) and the Centre for Applied Research at the Norwegian School of
Economics recently
published some fascinating data. They tallied up all of the
financial resources that get transferred between rich countries and poor
countries each year: not just aid, foreign investment and trade flows (as previous studies have done) but also non-financial transfers such as debt cancellation,
unrequited transfers like workers’ remittances, and unrecorded capital flight
(more of this later). As far as I am aware, it is the most comprehensive
assessment of resource transfers ever undertaken.
(...)
Janon Hickel – Antropólogo da London School of Economics – 27.01.2017.
In The Guardian.
