I participated in an interesting summit of academics and government officials towards the end of the summer. The event, “Revitalizing Rural Development for Poverty Eradication in Asia,” featured three tracks of discussions about (1) natural resources and the environment, (2) rights and democratization, & (3) livelihood and wellbeing. I joined the Read more…
Plutocrats and their ideologues like to claim that too equal an income distribution destroys incentives to work and turns us into a “nation of takers.” But a return to the inequality levels of the 1960s would not turn us into Maoist China. In the relevant range of levels of inequality, Read more…
There are two problems with economic growth as a measure of wellbeing. First, the correlation between economic growth and poverty reduction is weak. It’s a reminder that intuition and ‘common sense’ do not always correspond to evidence. Globally, the trends are clear. Since 1990, global gross domestic product (GDP) has Read more…
A few weeks ago the World Bank changed the international poverty line from $1.25 to $1.90 per day. Normally, changes to the poverty line slide by without attracting much attention, but for some reason this time people got excited. At first glance, it looks as if the bank has finally Read more…
Having coffee at the end of a bike ride this afternoon, I overheard the following exchange between an older gentlemen and a cashier:
McChicken and a McDouble today sir?
Photo by: tonystl
We seem overloaded with problems and headed in negative directions on many fronts. (Environment, society, politics, business, poverty, food, health care, animal & human rights, etc.) On top of that, our governments seem neither inclined to pursue, nor capable of, corrective action. (more…)