BETTER NEWS AT LAST OR THE SAME OLD STORY?

Fetsum Berhane posts (15 December) on ALLAFRICA HERE http://allafrica.com/stories/201512151234.html

“Ethiopia: Beyond the MDGs - the Post-2015 Development Agenda”

“The solutions for poverty reduction were seen to arise from visible hands of states after the "the invisible hand" failed to correct anything for decades.”

Comment

African states have a long record of corruption, mismanagement, and abject failure. It may be encouraging if the Development Agenda claims are accurate and warranted.

There can be no blame on the so-called “invisible hand” because no such miraculous power exists. Markets are as corrupted as the echolons of the states that govern in Africa.

All too often there is no “visible hand” as governments hide their actions and publicise their claims as much as participants in markets. Ideologists of the Right make claims for “an invisible hand” of markets, supposedly “coined” by Adam Smith (it wasn’t) and ideologists of the Left make claims for “visible hands” of states, where there is much open and hidden corruption and personal power.

The result is total failure.

If there signs of rising living standards, which is excellent news, that is good news and long overdue. Neither Right or Left can claim the credit.