USAID Cuts Could Cause 14 Million Deaths, Leave ‘Deep Scars’ on Poor Nations: ​Economist Abhijit Banerjee

Trump’s USAID cuts leave Ukrainian dog cartoon without a future

When US President Donald Trump announced the sweeping dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year, few imagined that one of the casualties would be an animated Ukrainian dog. Yet the abrupt cancellation of Patron the Dog, a children’s cartoon designed to educate youngsters about the dangers of land mines, has become an emblem of how Washington’s reorientation of aid priorities is reverberating in unexpect…

USAID cuts could cause 14 million deaths, leave ‘deep scars’ on poor nations: ​Economist Abhijit Banerjee

When Nobel Prize-winning economist Dr Abhijit Banerjee speaks about global poverty, the world listens. Known for transforming the way policymakers think about development, Banerjee has spent decades using data-driven experiments to tackle one of humanity’s greatest challenges — extreme poverty. His voice, measured yet urgent, carries the weight of a man who has seen progress firsthand and fears watching it slip away.“It is an understatement to s…

Nobel Economist Abhijit Banerjee: USAID Cuts Will Leave Deep Scars

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes Global aid cuts impact the world The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has undergone drastic cuts in the past seven months under the Trump administration, some of which are being challenged in court. But outside of the legal battles, the cataclysmic tremors caused by these cuts are already being felt by the rest of the world.  On September 9, 2025, Dr. Abhijit Banerjee addressed a brief…