"Aid: The Stuff Of Rock Bands, G8 Promises And Agencies"

Now that we've have an idea of what Collier sees as the problems, we can take a look at what he thinks of the solutions.

Collier refers to these solutions as "instruments." They are:

1. aid
2. military intervention
3. laws and charters
4. trade policy for reversing marginalization

Each of these instruments has their own merits and pitfalls. Collier feels that although all of these have been used at some point in the past, they have not been well used and as such have been to an extent disregarded as being useful tools for development.

Collier outlines how each of these 4 instruments can be used in relation to the four traps in a way that will benefit not only the bottom billion, but the rest of the world as well.

1. aid: in Collier's opinion, aid is not a bad word. while it has not always been well-applied in the past, he believes that a new vision of how aid should be disseminated would go a long way towards improving the bottom billion's chances for success. Collier supports the use of aid as a "budget support." this would involve helping governments to create realistic operating budgets that are transparent and accountable.

• aid and the conflict trap: Collier states that aid can be used to help countries escape the conflict trap. his research has found that slow growth and low income are the major contributors to civil wars and coups. aid, correctly applied has enormous potential to decrease the likelihood of future rebellions. however, it is important to note that these effects are not direct, there is no evidence, Collier states, to support the notion that aid has a direct effect on civil wars or coups. aid in the post-conflict era can initially be used to provide much needed security and continued (a decade or so is a good starting point Collier states) commitment to "big aid" will eventually have the effect of raising the growth rate which will then have an effect on rebellions.
• aid and the natural resource trap: aid has not been found useful until the government is ready to attempt reform
• aid and landlocked: Collier states that these countries will need "welfare" for a long time; until their neighbors manage to get it together enough to allow them to stand on their own. the key goal of aid in these countries would be to help them improve their access to the coasts by creating regional transport corridors; this would require neighborhood agreements about the use of regional aid $$$
• aid and bad governance: not providing aid to countries with bad governance means that the most needy will not get aid. but, it is a tricky prospect because bad governance could very well mean that the aid does not get to the people in any case. what is needed is a system of accountability and restraints to ensure that the money reaches its targets. instead of increasing aid or continuously awarding aid to badly governed countries, the focus should be on using the aid to obtain the sorts of policy changes necessary to improve government.