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9 May 2022

Biden’s Foreign Aid Is Funding the Washington Bubble

Charles Kenny and Scott Morris

In recent weeks, U.S. President Joe Biden made good on the promise he made at last year’s G-7 summit in Cornwall, England, to launch a set of infrastructure investments in developing countries under the banner of Build Back Better World (B3W). His administration has rolled out new initiatives on digital connectivity, child care infrastructure, and health facility electrification, three areas that are surely important to global development progress. But, sadly consistent with every major U.S. aid initiative of the past 20 years, B3W appears to channel virtually all its funds through a Washington bubble of agencies, contractors, and nongovernmental organizations, providing hardly a cent of bilateral aid to developing-country governments. Whether you are a softhearted advocate for development or a hardened hawk aiming to contain China, that’s a huge mistake.

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