Many answers! What I think the GP is saying is this: A system of handing out benefits needs a class of administrators to actually hand it out, keep track of who

Many answers! What I think the GP is saying is this: A system of handing out benefits needs a class of administrators to actually hand it out, keep track of who should get it, who's already got it, and so on. For sure it's good for these people. Aid to the developing world is often criticised on these grounds. It can be pretty hard to figure out which programs have how much benefit for the intended recipients (some do, but some send the wrong things, or out-compete local businesses, etc). But what's easy to see is that any place with lots of aid has quite the fleet of white toyota 4x4s, with foreign experts driving around, and all of their jobs depend on these programs.