Opinion: Gates Takes Wrong Approach to Ending Poverty

Buttressing the rights of poor people in autocratic countries will do more to curtail global poverty than the “technocratic” solutions favored by Bill Gates, an economist who has been criticized by Mr. Gates writes in a Seattle Times opinion column.

Author and New York University professor William Easterly, who was named as a misguided “aid critic” in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2014 annual letter, says he admires the billionaire philanthropist’s generosity and advocacy. But he faults Mr. Gates for cooperating with and praising repressive leaders in developing countries in delivering “technical solutions” such as anti-malarial bed nets and drought-resistant crop strains.

“Autocracy itself perpetuates poverty,” Mr. Easterly writes. “[D]emocratic rights make technical fixes happen, and produce a far better long-run record on reducing poverty, disease and hunger than autocracies,” he says, citing countries such as Botswana, Brazil, Ghana, and South Korea, where living conditions have improved alongside expanding democracy.

“If the democratic view of development is correct, the lessons for Gates are clear: Don’t give undeserved credit and praise to autocrats. Don’t campaign for more official aid to autocrats. Redirect aid to democrats,” Mr. Easterly says.