This is what Dambisa Moyo, a global economist and author of the bestselling book Dead Aid about the question why Western development assistance to Africa has delivered such poor results, told an audience of European fund selectors on Thursday.
Moyo, who sat on a panel with three other independent geopolitical thinkers with varying expertise, identified three weaknesses of Europe’s dealings with the migration issue. “Its day-to-day response has been very ad hoc, as migration is an artefact of decisions made years ago. I’m not very sanguine about this short-termism.”
Thank you Fed
She mentioned the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy as an example, blaming it indirectly for the migrant influx. “Speculation about a Fed rate hike has caused carnage in emerging markets, where 90% of the world’s population lives. Growth has been far below the 7% they need.
The second weakness she mentioned is that migration is seen as a zero-sum game in the West, something exemplified by the continuous passing of the migrant burden from one country to another. “And the third problem is the misconception about where the migration problem comes from.” According to economist Moyo, the only way to tackle it is by encouraging “fair and objective” trading opportunities. “Western subsidies and tariffs programmes are all about discouraging globalisation in its purest form. We really shouldn’t be surprised about all these migrants showing up on our shores because of that.”
