'Haiti Doesn T Need Your Old T-Shirts' By Charles Kenny Analysis

In the article, “Haiti doesn’t need your old T-shirts,” Charles Kenny explains why donating old clothes or food to countries in need doesn’t help those countries, but rather hurts their own economy. Charles Kenny is a developmental economist and has written a plethora of journal and magazine articles, books, and blog posts. Kenny is able to inform and influence his audience by including examples of the problem, people of authority, and a solution to the problem he writes about in his article.
Charles Kenny starts the article with an easily acceptable example. The example that is given is about the Super Bowl and how they “donate the losing team’s shirts to a charity” (Kenny 58). By using football, Charles Kenny is able to pull in a large and preferred audience. He aims towards Americans to read his article and the Super Bowl is a common subject talked between Americans. The placement of the example is also very important.

The economists that Charles Kenny adds in the article have all graduated from well-known universities. Some people Kenny includes are: Garth Frazer, graduate of University of Toronto; Nathan Nunn, graduate of Harvard University; Nancy Qian, graduate of Yale University (Kenny 59). Kenny first writes down his claim then backs it up with a person who has strong knowledge of the subject. For example, Kenny writes, “bringing in shirts from outside also hurts the local economy,” which is his claim. He follows that claim with a supported quote from one of the economists included in his paper, Garth Frazer. Garth Frazer estimates “that increased used-clothing imports accounted for about half of the decline in apparel industry employment in Africa” (59). Frazer supports Charles Kenny’s claim. All of the claims Kenny makes are followed and supported with a quote from an economist. The economists are Kenny’s proof and support, which is needed when writing a persuasive