Mar 06, 2009

Stimulus Funding for Effectiveness Research Worth Following

One part of the Obama administration’s proposed budget provides an example worth following for private philanthropy—investing in effectiveness research. Questions abound in nearly every social area, from education to health to economic development. Behavioral economics is also at work on donors and funders as they make choices about what to invest in. The impulse—as with that cookie—is to earmark money directly for recipients, because the gain seems immediate. But absent any evidence that programs work, it is a false gain. Instead, we should remember to support the research projects that can tell us for sure whether the gain is sustaining or not, and be willing to act on the evidence, even if we don’t like it.

Nov 21, 2008

Interview: Roger Frank of Developing World Markets on the Credit Crisis and Microfinance

Attention in the financial markets has been focused on the struggles of developed world institutions. To date, there hasn’t been much coverage of the impact of the financial crisis on microfinance—either on the flow of new capital to microfinance or the impact on MFIs that have borrowed money in hard currency while making loans in local currencies. Roger Frank is a partner at Developing World Markets, an investment banking and asset management firm specializing in microfinance, and has a front-row seat as the credit crisis increasingly impacts emerging market countries and microfinance. Roger spoke with Philanthropy Action recently about how the credit crisis is affecting investors and MFIs.

Sep 16, 2008

Free and Fair Trade in Healthcare

May 22, 2008

Silver Linings and Dark Clouds Surround the Food Crisis

It seems that everyone except for the US Congress has woken up to the food crisis. The topic has made the cover of many magazines, and is featured almost daily in major national newspapers. Most debate has now turned to the causes and solutions, if any, to the situation. While there are some silver linings, the biggest dark cloud of all is centered over Washington, DC this week where the US Congress will overturn a presidential veto and pass the 2008 farm bill.

Apr 16, 2008

Global Food Inflation: What Can Be Done?

Rapidly rising food prices around the world are capturing front page headlines daily. The problems in the agricultural sector of been decades in the making and will take several years to fix.The biggest danger is that in the rush to short-term fixes, we’ll simply create more distortions that don’t deal with the real issues and make future food crises even worse.

Feb 13, 2008

The Bottom Billion in the News

Recent news events from some of the world’s poorer regions are providing more real-life examples of Paul Collier’s main theories from The Bottom Billion. In his book, and illuminated in our recent interview, Collier argues that there are four under-researched “traps” that lock a handful of the world’s countries, with a total population of close to one billion, in a cycle of despair.

May 30, 2007

Colombia Sees an Upsurge in Investing, and a Chance for Change

New investment in Colombia business may be signalling a move toward stability for the country as a whole. And stability is great, because it opens the way for reinvestment in infrastructure which will benefit the poor.

Mar 14, 2007

U.S. Far From Free for its Migrant Workers

A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center questions whether guest worker programs in fact benefit workers as they should.

Feb 20, 2007

How the Poor Live

A recent study conducted by the MIT Poverty Action Lab reveals surprising data about how the poor earn, spend, borrow and invest. The study should be required reading for anyone looking at ways to effectively invest in reducing poverty.

Oct 20, 2006

Increased Role of Remittances

When we look back in 10 years, it’s likely we’ll conclude that the most powerful international anti-poverty efforts of the first world were remittances made by immigrants.