Paul Shirley on Haiti; paging Tyler Cowen

Paul Shirley, a guy I’ve defended before for taking a contrarian point of view, takes a point of view so contrarian I don’t think even Slate would publish it. He argues that it’s as foolish to give money to Haiti as it is to give money to a homeless guy — giving alms to either will do little to help them but might assuage your white liberal guilt. (I’m paraphrasing.)

It’s…well, it’s something. I’ll let you give it a read. I think there’s a serious argument to be made about the efficacy of foreign aid (or, more accurately, the lack thereof), but I think it’s a fairly misanthropic thing to say that we shouldn’t have fed starving people in Africa because it leads to more starving people. I mean, the logic is certainly spot on: If you let starving people die of starvation, there are fewer starving people to sire future generations of starving people. But it is, well, inhuman.

Anyway, I’d be really interested to hear what Tyler Cowen, who has been doing some fantastic blogging on the subject of Haiti and aid, has to say about Paul’s latest missive.