I am a PhD candidate at American University in Washington, DC. I am interested in state formation and governance in low income countries. My dissertation examines the influence of foreign aid on incumbent advantage in African presidential elections.The most recent episode of This American Life is about reconstruction in Haiti. It features excellent stories which touch on nearly all of the major problems with foreign aid and development work. Being This American Life, it does this with good humour and clear language. This should be required reading for undergrad development classes.
You can listen here. (click through the donation request page if it appears)
Also, sorry for not posting recently. I was finishing up the remainder of my coursework.
The graph above shows ODA (Official development assistance) to Haiti and was made by David Roodman. If you are confused about what counts as ODA then be sure to see its wikipedia entry and the .pdf file Is it ODA?
