Publication

This paper argues that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are unlikely to be met by 2015, even if huge increases in development assistance materialize. However, the author suggests that the rates of progress required by many of the goals are beyond historical precedent. But despite many benefits of the MDGs, there has been little discussion so far of potential costs of the specific form taken by these goals, especially the creation of unreasonable expectations about what is achievable in a short time frame and about the role of aid in the development process.