Giving Compass' Take:

• Bill Gates offers his take on why donating to foreign aid groups and investing in global development aid is important for the U.S. economy. He believes that we would be better off with more middle-income countries in the world. 

• Do you agree that there is an indirect connection between foreign aid work and growth in the U.S. economy?

• Learn about the struggles that some countries will have to go through once they graduate from foreign aid assistance. 

I’m a big fan of America’s investments in the health and well-being of the world’s poor. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same way. In fact, some in Washington D.C. have proposed dramatic cuts in foreign assistance.

That would be a terrible mistake. In this post, I want to show how smart health and development programs promote America’s economy, and how cutting back on these investments could backfire on American workers.

(As I said in my previous post, these security and economic arguments aren’t what inspired Melinda and me to get involved in global health. What inspired us was the chance to save children from dying of preventable diseases. But over the years I’ve come to see the connection to America’s security and economy as well.)

I start from the simple premise that everyone is better off when there are more middle-income countries in the world. As a country climbs up the economic ladder, you see concrete improvements in the lives of its people. Richer countries are less likely to go to war and more capable of preventing global epidemics. And they can afford to buy more products from other countries, including the United States.

Here’s another way that U.S. investments abroad help American businesses: by connecting them directly with new customers and suppliers. America’s chief aid agency, USAID, uses its expertise to encourage private companies to collaborate on projects.

So it’s good for the American economy when other countries join the middle class. But how much credit does aid deserve for making that happen? My own conclusion, based on years of looking at the evidence and discussing it with experts, is that although aid may not directly cause growth, there is a strong indirect connection between the two.

Read the full article about giving foreign aid by Bill Gates at Gates Notes