Development after war
Drawing on civil war incidences in 41 countries between years 1960 and 2003, a new World Bank paper compares economic, social and political developments in the pre and post-war periods.
The paper finds that once peace is achieved and sustained, effective recovery is feasible. The average growth in the sample countries exceeded prewar levels by over 2 percent, which, in the absence of investment, the authors attribute mostly to improvements in productivity and better resource utilization.
Lastly, the authors imply a connection between aid and growth by implicitly linking the reallocation of resources away from military expenditures to progress in social areas and a higher income per capita.
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I was interested in the article from the perspective of the mechanics of recovery in crisis situation, yet it failed to offer tangible means to do that. I have a view that the international communities' approach to crisis is a massive band-aid to the immediate pain, but fails dismally to address the broader question of grass roots economic recovery. I have perhaps explained more in my blog article "Joining the Dots" at http://www.steve-hutcheson.com/wordpress/?cat=3
Posted by: Steve Hutcheson | Apr 26, 2008 12:00:37 AM
"Development after war" sounds quite interesting a title. Equally interesting a title could have been "War after development" because it is, has been and will be possible.
Either way, the objectives should be to develop, which has been man's search of idealism. It is good to develop and there is nothing wrong with that.
However, when wars are created to initiate development after the effect this looks unrealistic to a "mind of comfort". Let development be squarely the aim of human beings, not wars.
Nicholas p'Okech
Posted by: Nicholas p'Okech | Oct 25, 2008 3:08:23 PM