PBS’ “Religion & Ethics” looks at the U.S. government’s “long history of trying to help poor countries get out of poverty. Since the end of World War II, the U.S. has given or loaned 150 countries more than a trillion dollars worth of aid, not counting military assistance or the work of private charities and nongovernmental organizations, many of them faith-based. We wondered what the lessons are in all this experience for, as they say, ‘fixing Haiti.'”

The show addresses the successes and failures of U.S. foreign aid policy with New York University’s William Easterly, Bread for the World President David Beckmann, and former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios. Ketleen Florestal, a country economist for Haiti with the Inter-American Development Bank, discusses the situation in that country. Extended interviews with Easterly, Beckmann and Natsios are available (Abernathy, 2/19).