Comments for Power lunch with Andrew Mitchell MP at http://adamsmith.org , comment 1 to 2 out of 2 comments http://adamsmith.org Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:53:07 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://adamsmith.org/blog/globalization/power-lunch-with-andrew-mitchell-mp-200807101678/#comment-594 Teff grain originally grown in Ethiopia, is for export only, but now that the Dutch and German governemtn have been given permission to grow Ethiopian Teff grain in Europe, why can't the surplus Teff grain be returned to Ethiopia. Surely thsi is one way of assisting the farmers who are dying of starvation, because of what they export. Rosa Manson - Rosa Manson Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:37:28 +0100 http://adamsmith.org/blog/globalization/power-lunch-with-andrew-mitchell-mp-200807101678/#comment-576 Its hard to know how Tory policy will turn out in power. Currently it is camoflaged by desire to claim the perceived marginal ground On Aid Tories need to learn the difficulty of delivery which reaches the Poor. As PS says here [9 July] 2008 “The foreign aid situation is becoming increasingly farcical. As William Easterly, author of The White Man’s Burden put it: “The status quo — large international bureaucracies giving aid to large national government bureaucracies — is not getting money to the poor.” As Prof Easterly intimates, the failure stems from the insistence of OECD government donors to give the lion share of aid directly to governments, who they then rely on to plan, manage and deliver healthcare. “ You would think all Parties experience of NHS at home with diminishing or negative marginal returns to spending would suffice. But then whats delivery got to do with it at home or abroad.? Politics seem to be driven by headline spending and fiddled targets and statistics. More, I think the counterproductive effect of farm subsidies is a factoid. Substitution among temperate and tropical foods is limited- perhaps rice and maize. Export subsidies cannot be justified while farm prices are low in poor countries. But if production in poor countries fails to respond enough to high prices, farm subsidies at home may be the best way to feed the starving abroad via WFP. The real damage to trade has been done by Carbon Control Policy by contributing to rocketing oil price and exhortation to dig up the lawn and minimise food miles. - Dr Alister McFarquhar Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:02:16 +0100