Foreign Aid In Angus Deaton's The Great Escape

Introduction The world has become a better place than it used to be. Individuals are healthier, live longer, and wealthier, yet the escape from poverty by many has left inequality gaps between nations and individuals. In the book The Great Escape, Angus Deaton, who is one of the leading experts on economic poverty and development, narrates an incredible story of how some parts of the world in the past experienced progress while others did not, leading to inequality in today’s world (Deaton). Deaton examines the past and present patterns behind the wealth and health of nations, and addresses what nations need to do in order to assist those left behind. The book is highly readable and well-written in an entertaining manner, and the first six …show more content…
The only thing that readers get to learn about foreign aid is how bad it is in providing assistance to the developing countries. The readers get to learn that foreign aid creates dependency and makes the people in the developing countries not seek employment for themselves. Thus, because they cannot seek employment, they cannot earn a respectable living. The readers do not get to learn how foreign aid assists people in the developing countries eradicate poverty and create equality. Deaton could have told the readers that foreign aid is not bad and it assists in creating equality. He should have told the readers that foreign aid helps in improving lives by creating equality through ensuring that people in the developing countries could eat food. In the cases that foreign aid did not help in improving people’s lives in the developing countries, Deaton should have provided ample evidence so that readers would have understood why foreign aid should not be …show more content…
He was able to explain that innovations in biology have provided vaccines that some people in the community cannot afford. His most distinct explanation of inequality is the inability of economist and international organizations formulating better policies that actually work in the developing world. While he was able to provide reasons for inequality, he was not objective when stating foreign aid as a reason for inequality. He seemed to cite that foreign aid only creates poverty because it does not allow people in the developing countries seek employment to make money to close the gap of inequality. Therefore, what readers may get in this book is that foreign aid should not be given to developing