PressEsc - G8 debt drop “unlikely” to help – Stanford research: "In June finance ministers of the Group of 8, the world's wealthiest industrialized nations, agreed to cancel at least $40 billion in debt owed by the world's poorest nations, many of them in Africa, but in research funded by the National Science Foundation and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University associate professor Peter Henry and economist Serkan Arslanalp of the International Monetary Fund analyzed the tradeoffs and demonstrated that debt relief may not be the most efficient way to help these very poor nations.

'The good news is that the G8 announcement focuses attention on the economic problems of the highly indebted poor countries, but you have to understand the tradeoffs,' Henry said. 'Debt forgiveness isn't free.'"

(Via PressEsc.)