Earlier this week I blogged about the Templeton Foundation’s ad in Sunday’s NYTimes, and the associated postings on the foundation’s Web site, that asked “Will Money Solve Africa’s Development Problems?”

Today, Nancy Birdsall of CGD (full disclosure: technically, she pays me) takes a much more in depth look at the things these writers have to say:

Unfortunately the Templeton ad is more likely to sow more confusion than to create momentum for reform of the official aid business. Private initiatives are healthy. But the real challenge is how to fix official aid — so it complements rather than undermining entrepreneurship in Africa. For more on that see my working paper: Do No Harm: Aid, Weak Institutions, and the Missing Middle in Africa and An Aid-Institutions Paradox?

She also points to a review essay on Aid Dependency and State Building in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Todd Moss, Gunilla Pettersson, and Nicolas van de Walle. All are excellent.