Who is Stingiest of All?

The U.S. has often been chided for being stingy with its aid to developing countries. But the U.S. is far from the worst offender. Among the 17 members of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. is tied for twelfth place with Japan (both countries devote 0.25% of their gross national product to such projects). Sweden is first (0.72%). The unchallenged occupants of 17th and last place are the Swiss (0.14%), even though they rank as the richest people among the world's industrialized countries, with a per capita income of $8,740.

Uneasy over the country's growing reputation as an Alpine penny pincher, the government recently won parliamentary support for a modest $80 million contribution to the World Bank to help the world's neediest nations. But an odd coalition of extreme left-and right-wing politicians launched a popular initiative against the proposal.When it came to a referendum last week, the Swiss resoundingly rejected the aid scheme, 713,855 to 550,557. The Tribune de Geneve fretted that the outcome betrayed an "egoistic, isolationist trait in the Swiss character," but that hardly came as a surprise to critics of the country's preoccupation with money. They point out that the legal code inflicts heavier penalties for failure to pay a hotel bill than for statutory rape.

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