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ArchiveArchive
Mar 12, 2008
Remittances and Foreign Investment Trends Tell a Mixed Story for Latin America
Foreign direct investment is a critical element of poverty reduction in emerging market economies because it correlates directly with the creation of businesses, and therefore formal jobs, in those countries. By that calculation Brazil appears to be on a promising path.
Mar 10, 2008
The Worst of Journalism, Part II
Reporting like this only serves to muddy the waters for anyone trying to improve education in the US and elsewhere. The false impression readers get of cause and effect makes it all the harder for sound research on what works and what doesn’t to rise to the top.
Mar 05, 2008
Ethiopian Exchange Looks Promising
A group of donors, including the Ethiopian government, the World Bank and a few countries, such as the US, are funding the creation of a grain exchange in Addis Ababa
Mar 04, 2008
War Imminent in South Sudan
The international community has had its attention deflected from South Sudan since Darfur erupted in late 2003, allowing Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir to piece by piece renege on the commitments he made under the North-South peace agreement, which was brokered with the help of the Bush administration.
Feb 28, 2008
Emerging Opportunities for Philanthropy in the US
The current economic situation is generating many other possible opportunities for innovative and high-impact philanthropy. Here are a few ideas that are worth exploring.
Feb 25, 2008
China’s Role in African Infrastructure Development
It’s important to understand the reasons for the differences between Western aid/philanthropy and Chinese aid in Africa. While “fashion” in aid plays a role, Western donors have largely moved away from infrastructure projects because of the way in which they have been historically mired in deep corruption; and Western-funded buildings and roads have rarely been maintained once they’ve been built. Because of Chinese insistence on using Chinese firms and labor and the lack of transparency in many of these deals, there is reason to be concerned that China is undermining Western philanthropy’s investment in good governance and human development.
Feb 22, 2008
Bush’s Africa Trip Promises Money to Follow
President Bush’s support for Africa has been one of the highlights of his administration. In a much sited statistic, official aid to Africa has doubled on his watch, and if current commitments are met could lead to it doubling again within two more years.
Feb 18, 2008
Free Trade, Fair Trade and Poverty
It is extremely difficult in today’s globalized, complex economies to separate causes and correlations. While the US corn that Mexico is importing is not directly competing with the white corn crops produced by peasant farmers, the fact remains that the prices received by farmers in Mexico has fallen by roughly 70 percent since Nafta was implemented. At the same time, the cost of tortillas and corn flour purchased in Mexican supermarkets has increased dramatically. There are plenty of possible explanations for this that have nothing to do with Nafta, but common sense dictates that there is probably some relation.
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.
Feb 08, 2008
Medical Research Meets Business-Oriented Philanthropy
A New Yorker article by Jerome Groopman profiles Kathy Guisti, a Harvard Business School graduate and multiple myeloma sufferer. Guisti started the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation which functions less as a medical advocate and more as a venture capitalist, using its capital to invest in initiatives that in-house researchers view as promising.