Debt and Development

Over a Crooked Timber Daniel Davis uses Dani Rodrik's One Economics Many Recipes as a starting point for an interesting (albeit rambling) post making the argument that debt is far more of a constraint on development than is commonly recognised (at least outside debt-relief activist circles).

His argument goes beyond the usual fare (money foregone on health and education) to make some interesting points including the argument that, if you assume, pace Rodrik, that successful development policy will be country specific, debt repayment, to the extent that it drives policy decisions, will lead to poor policy. And hence poor development outcomes.