The Development Research Institute (DRI) at New York University has received the BBVA Foundation’s Frontiers of Knowledge Award for its weblog project, Aid Watch for “its contribution to the analysis of foreign aid provision, and its challenge to the conventional wisdom in development assistance.” The year-old blog is principally written by economist William Easterly, author of “The Elusive Quest for Growth” and “The White Man’s Burden”, and focuses on holding aid agencies accountable. €400,000 will be awarded to DRI.
From the BBVA press release…
“[Aid Watch takes] a fresh approach to aid and development research, helping ensure that the economic aid rich countries provide to the developing world is better utilized. Its results question certain mainstream assumptions in development cooperation, like the idea that more generosity on the part of rich donor countries will have an automatic pay-off in poor country development.”