Bruce Beuno de Mesquita gives an interesting discussion of foreign aid here.
Bryan Caplan scoffs at Charles Kenney's claim that sub-saharan Africa isn't doing so badly here.
Tyler Cowen deals out some revisionist history regarding the Marshall Plan here.
James Watson has blamed the failure of western policies toward africa on a belief in human equality.
I myself have nothing to contribute, but I would curious to know what predictions you all might make about how sub-saharan africa will change over the next decade.
The remarkable observation that medical spending has zero net marginal effect is shocking, but not completely unprecedented.
According to Spiegel in "Too Much of a Good Thing: Choking on Aid Money in Africa", the Washington Center for Global Development calculated that it would require $3,521 of marginal development aid invested, per person, in order to increase per capita yearly income by $3.65 (one penny per day).
The Kenyan economist James Shikwati is even more pessimistic in "For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!": The net effect of Western aid to Africa is actively destructive (even when it isn't stolen to prop up corrupt regimes), a chaotic flux of money and goods that destroys local industry.
What does aid to Africa have in common with healthcare spending? Besides, of course, that it's heartbreaking to just say no -