Foreign Economic Aid: Means and Objectives (Essays in Public Policy)

Victors in war have traditionally imposed repreations on the vanquished. The United States was the first power in history to change this accepted practice. United States assistance programs began after World War II, the greatest being the Marshall plan for Western Europe (1947–1951). Foriegn aid thereafter became big geopolitical business, and a new branch of economics sprang up: development economics. In this essay Friedman argued that foreign economic aid would retard economic development and promote socialism, not democracy. Economic aid should be abolished, Friedman advised. Foreign economic aid, he said, will not contribute "to rapid economic development along desirable lines." Foriegn assistance is more likely to retard improvement in the well-being of the masses, while strengthening the government sector and undermining democracy and freedom.