http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2871#.Tr1mMAI2Dow.email
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"Vision begins with one person, but it is only accomplished by many people." (John C. Maxwell)
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The K@W interview with the authors of "Poor Economics" provides an insight into the kinds of things that can work to raise people out of poverty around the world. Their book has just been named the 2011 Financial Times Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year. The authors are baffled about how a book about finding and thinking of ways to end global poverty gets a business award. I'm not.
The interesting central point of their book is that there isn't a single answer to alleviating poverty. There is no single action that is going to solve the problem of poverty. However; there are some crucial steps. Educating children is one of them. Health care for the poor is another.
So, for example, if a child doesn't learn to read or acquire basic math skills by age 13 or 14, then the entire effort is worthless.
"Poverty" itself has different definitions depending of the country or the goals for alleviating it. The Indian Planning Commission has set the poverty line at 65 cents a day. But, versus Purchasing Power Parity, that number becomes $1.72. However; measuring poverty financially is not what's important to the authors - fixing poverty is. What works is what the authors want to find and chronicle.
Overall, the "three villains" of efforts to eradicate poverty are: ideology, ignorance and inertia. And the three problem interfaces are the expert, the aid worker and the local policy maker. In India, there are many good NGOs doing excellent work. So, some things work and some things don't.
The "Poverty Action Lab" that the authors founded in 2003, focuses on what works. Right now, researchers are engaged in 240 experiments across 40 countries.
Interestingly, the authors point out that slowing growth in the West is a huge problem for growing countries like India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan which rely on servicing those markets.
It looks like an interesting book. It was certainly an interesting interview.
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That seems like an enlightening book to read. The idea is simple - healthcare, education, and infrastructure are always the key to a healthy economy and essentially happier people, but it seems that people forget about it all the time. While the definition of poverty varies throughout the world, the steps that can be taken to deal with it begin a wave of benefits.
ReplyDeleteMariya Zemerova
Brilliant and I expect nothing less! Thank you for your comments!
ReplyDeleteThese things have been know for years.
ReplyDeleteIdeology... ignorance... inertia... I have never seen poverty causes abridged like that. What an unholy trinity!... Plenty of that exists right here in America.
I hope books like these brings the ultra rich and intelligent out to solve these problems...