Not all social change is clearly good or bad, black or white. Just about any change is bound to have both positive and negative consequences. Whichever side – the pros or the cons – outweighs the other usually directs whether action should be taken. However, effects are often unknown, immeasurable, difficult to prove direct causality, or up for interpretation or debate.

An example of the kind of social change I have in mind is aid. Foreign aid, especially, may be delivered with the best intentions, and in many cases it has a significant positive impact for its beneficiaries in the short term. However, sometimes this well-intentioned support can have adverse effects after the immediate benefits are reaped. Aid in Haiti after the earthquake is a perfect example of this, as discussed in this NPR video. Giving free food to hungry people sounds great, but, as the video correspondent demonstrates, this generosity later proves to cripple the local economy.

When people are receiving rice for free, the street vendors’ business suffers. In turn, the small rice wholesalers are in danger of going under, and the big suppliers lose money. These hard times for the rice supply chain aren’t necessarily temporary – “the delicate system could collapse,” meaning damage in Haiti long after the earthquake.

Donations of clothing and shoes to developing nations poses a similar dilemma. Check out this website to read about how “Good intentions are not enough” and watch a short video called “A Day without Dignity.” Several companies have adopted the TOMS shoes model of donating a pair of shoes for each pair they sell. Again the concept of donating to people in need is commendable, but goodintents.org brings up some problems with the content and methods of these charitable deeds. For starters, “it’s doing things ‘for’ people not ‘with’ people.” Rather then collaborating with players in the local economy, the donations are more or less ‘dumped’ and end up competing with the local goods. TOMS and the like are also criticized for simply being a marketing ploy. Whether or not that is true, the competition with local goods is very real and could create long-term issues.

A third illustration of social change, not specifically aid this time, comes in a small package called the Tata Nano. Made and sold in India, this car was sold at about $2,000 when it first came out in 2009– the cheapest car in the world. The basic idea of the company, Tato Motors, was to make a car as cheaply as possibly so that Indians getting around by two-wheelers, bikes, or other means could now afford a car. There was potential for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Indians to be newly empowered and experience great mobility with this mode of transportation. On one hand, this creation could change the lives and lifestyles of an entire class of people in one of the largest countries in the world. On the other hand, every changed life is also a new source of pollution. According to a Newsweek article, “Every new purchase of this vehicle is increasing fuel use [per passenger] by a factor of two to seven, depending on how many people are in the car,” says Sperling [director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California]. That doesn’t even account for a decline in fuel efficiency if the cars are not maintained well.” Many Westerners might like to say India should not be allowed to let this happen, but with the West’s history of pollution it doesn’t seem fair to point that finger. Environmentalists are worried what this will do to the current calculations for greenhouse gas buildup.

I am not an expert on any of these topics by any means. They are just stories I found very interesting in that at the surface, they sound like great philanthropic work or innovation that’s helping people in need. But upon further inspection, the initiatives may prove to actually hurt the very people they are intended to benefit (and/or the environment) . I hope to hear some thoughts on these situations and maybe more examples of similar, or less controversial/more successful, aid stories!