Philanthropy

I have - on many occasions - commented on how philanthropy, or altruism can have negative consequences for the recipient. I'm not quite Ayn Randian on this, but I do think its important to understand that often the philanthropy is about making the philanthropist feel good, instead of making the recipients life better off. Here is a great example in a short TED talk on condoms in the Congo. Note the difference in marketing strategy between the for profit condom sellers and the NGOs. You know it can't be good for the Congolese when the NGOs are using the condoms to advertise to donors, rather than potential condom users.