by Michael J. Crosswell

About the author: Michael J. Crosswell is an economist with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the agency of the federal government that extends assistance to developing nations.

Critics of foreign aid like to argue that there has been little or no progress in the developing world. The Heritage Foundation’s initial survey of economic freedom claimed: “Not only has U.S. development aid been wasted, it has actually retarded economic development in the countries that receive it. Not one country receiving foreign aid has succeeded in developing sustained economic growth.” A more recent attack by the Cato Institute alleged that “few programs have consumed as many resources with as few positive results as foreign aid. ... The recipients of that largesse have, by...