The first trick is that money is not wealth; you have to track the flow and creation of goods, not the flow of money.
Yes, and that’s in specific why I was making this argument. This money isn’t being dumped into the economy as a whole—it’s targeted to poor families. Now, money is the lubricant of the economy, and those folks were jammed tight: since they’re so short on cash, it’s tough for them to maintain an economy. They need to do it by barter or in their heads. So if this greases the wheels and lets them begin trading with each other, then you get really serious gains—people able to work in ways they weren’t before. If this money leaves, that’s bad news indeed.
Now, secondly, consider: these folk are stuck on the bottom relative to their neighbors. Effectively, you can split them off as a sub-Nigeria with no economic policy at all. When they buy things from their wealthier neighbors, that fulfils the role of the export that you describe above.
Basically, I think your second and third thoughts in the OP are the dominant issues.
Yes, and that’s in specific why I was making this argument. This money isn’t being dumped into the economy as a whole—it’s targeted to poor families. Now, money is the lubricant of the economy, and those folks were jammed tight: since they’re so short on cash, it’s tough for them to maintain an economy. They need to do it by barter or in their heads. So if this greases the wheels and lets them begin trading with each other, then you get really serious gains—people able to work in ways they weren’t before. If this money leaves, that’s bad news indeed.
Now, secondly, consider: these folk are stuck on the bottom relative to their neighbors. Effectively, you can split them off as a sub-Nigeria with no economic policy at all. When they buy things from their wealthier neighbors, that fulfils the role of the export that you describe above.
Basically, I think your second and third thoughts in the OP are the dominant issues.