A new study has revealed that the finance industry has received almost ten times more in bailout money in the past year than poor countries have received in aid in the past 49 years.

The report by the UN Millennium Campaign shows that since the inception of overseas development assistance almost 50 years ago, donor countries have given some $2 trillion in aid.

And yet over the past year, $18 trillion has been allocated globally to bail out banks and other financial institutions.

The amount of total aid over the past 49 years represents just 11 per cent of the money allocated to financial institutions in one year.

The UN Millennium Campaign is calling on rich countries, which are gathering at this week's high-level summit to discuss the economic crisis, to urgently deliver on their aid commitments. 

What will it take for developed nations to honour their commitments to the world's poor? Or is saving the world's richest economies crucial for all humanity?

Inside Story discusses with guests: Salil Shetty, a director of the UN Millenium Campaign, David Buik, a financial analyst and partner at The Boston Consulting Group, and Michael Hudson, the president of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Thursday, July 02, 2009.