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Article: Ends without means; Economics focus.(United Nations' Millennium Development Goals)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 11, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The United Nations has set benchmarks for progress in poor countries. Are these any use?
THIS week the United Nations published its annual assessment of progress toward its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)--targets established in 2000 for advancing welfare in the developing countries. The record, as you might expect, is mixed. Some things are improving, others are not. How far the MDG initiative is making a difference, one way or another, is unclear. It remains questionable, in fact, whether the MDG exercise, with its unimpeachably good intentions and its proliferating bureaucratic overhead, has done any good at all, on balance.
The targets cover ...