Former national security adviser Jim Jones has called for “a type of Marshall Plan for emerging democratic states like Egypt.” This “Marshall Plan” thing is one of my pet peeves. You hear it all the time — for the Middle East, Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, Africa, Iraq, Pakistan, Southeast Asia, the Gulf states, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Tunisia, Albania — heck, just google “Marshall Plan” and almost any less-developed country or region and odds are something will pop up.

The problem is not just laziness and cliche; nor is it that after a certain number of “Marshall Plans” we run out of money. Rather, the very idea of a “Marshall Plan” for poor countries misses the point. The real Marshall Plan worked because Europe was already a highly developed society; it’s just that all the stuff had been blown up and they needed to replace it. In other words, the long process of social development — the changes in people’s attitudes and behavior and expectations — that causes and accompanies industrialization had already happened, and that’s a process you can’t will into existence with money. If you have a modern workforce whose workplaces are smouldering ruins, you can rebuild the workplaces and reestablish a modern, developed society. If you have an undeveloped populace, all the money you pour in will, as we’ve found in Afghanistan, be wasted or stolen.

Just say no to Marshall Plans!