by DECCA AITKENHEAD
The author of Poor Economics on why aid that assumes the poor will do the right thing is misguided – and why political corruption does not necessarily mean economic stagnation
“I think the real single biggest difference,” Banerjee agrees, “is that the state has delivered a whole bunch of stuff for us, and we forget how much is enforced and sustained by the state. The poorest person in the UK drinks extremely high-quality water, and this is not something that is just God-given; water in the UK in the 17th century was horrible. It’s not that there was some pure fountain of water that exists in the UK that doesn’t exist in Mali; it’s just the water has been cleaned by a system that has been set up for it.” If we had to remember to laboriously sterilise everything we drank, we would probably get careless too.
Likewise, British parents may do better than many in India at getting their children immunised – but we shouldn’t infer that they are somehow intrinsically more conscientious. “If you don’t get your children immunised, they probably can’t go to school and they probably can’t use the NHS. The fact that the state delivers these services, and therefore earns the right to restrain, is very important. Weaker states cannot deliver, nor can they expect therefore to have the right to restrain, because if you are not giving me anything, why would I listen to you?”
Guardian for more
(Thanks to Salim Amersi)