although the example not be exactly parallel, one of the things i've learned in the past year how aid to developing countries needs to be appropriate for the area. in my world, it relates to healthcare -- it's all well and good to develop medicines or tests to deal with local area health problems. however, if they are too expensive or worse, culturally inappropriate, it will do nothing to solve the problem. it was a waste of time and money.
perhaps the same principals should be applied to economic development. instead of dumping aid on a market, more time should be spent evaluating how to do it.