Articles by Scott Esposito

International financial institutions like the World Bank, which erroneously assume that economic growth automatically benefits all members of society, tend to concentrate on increasing GDP. But the assistance they provide trickles down to the poor in slow, halting drops. In fact, according to one recent study, 75 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas, yet the vast majority of international aid goes to developing mega-cities. Further, such aid often does little more than create bureaucracies and export markets. For example, 75 percent of the $30 billion in foreign aid sent to Bangladesh over the past 26 years ended up elsewhere, spent on equipment, luxuries, and consultants. read more