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A Dissenter Among Dissenters
In the spirit of the G8 protests, an activist that my friend saw in Bostonlast week carried a sign that said ’Abolish Poverty.’ No explanation on how todo it. Just a call to action.That sign best describes the G8 protests that I saw in Edinburgh, UK last Saturday. BobGeldorf...
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It’s expensive to be poor — but remittance costs are coming down
I’ve been attending a conference -- the International Forum on Remittances -- sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank here in Washington for the past several days. The IADB has been very active in analyzing remittance flows, and just put up a new website on the subject at...
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Africa: The Impact of Mobile Phones II
?The ultimate aim of policymakers must be to create the conditions for private enterprise to make poverty history in Africa?Vodafone is at it again ? first, with their Social Impact of Mobile report; now, CEO Arun Sarin has penned an op-ed in today?s Financial Times (subscription...
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Two Portraits of the Millennium Challenge Corporation
The New York Times: A Timely DepartureThe Economist: MCC hammeredLast Sunday on their editorial page, The New York Times trashed the Millenium Challenge Corporation, President Bush’s flagship development assistance program, for not spending enough money and for focusing on land-titling and...
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Silicon Valley VC Firms Tap Energy, Water as World’s “Largest Markets”
When asked why investment in clean tech (such as solar energy, water purification systems and alternative automotive fuels) is on the upswing, Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists don’t hold back. In today’s New York Times, the answer is generally the same: profit. Furthermore, some leading...
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Who Watches the Watchdogs?
Wolfowitz, Ending African Tour, Calls for ChangesUnsurprising conclusions made by Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank: the Bank needs to make changes in its bureaucratic structure, and government corruption doesn?t help in resolving the problem of poverty.? Indeed, back in 2002...
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The Role of Government in BOP Investment
Article from The Economist: Banking on the UnbankedThe success of South Africa’scontroversial Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) legislation in encouraging SouthAfrican firms to engage low-income communities as clients suggests analternative optimal...
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The Trouble with Aid
At the launch of ?The Market for Aid? yesterday, authors Michael Klein and Tim Harford described how the market for development aid was changing ? indeed, growing more competitive.? Will this increase in competition lead to more efficient aid agencies that will, in turn, make important...
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