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Fairtrade Fires Back – Is A Flawed System Better Than None At All?
You may have read a blog I posted recently discussing some of the problems with the Fairtrade system; this drew directly on a Financial Times article detailing the ways coffee growers in Peru pass their products off as Fairtrade while circumventing the rules. Soon after, the Fairtrade...
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On India’s Farms, a Plague of Suicide
There is a poignant article in today’s New York Times on the alarming rate of suicides amongst India’s farmers - more than 17,000 in 2003. Tracing the causes of this epidemic, the article explores a confluence of forces from moneylenders to American multinationals selling genetically...
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Rating Ease of Business and Economic Freedom in 2006
September is an exciting month for country ranking enthusiasts. World Bank?s 2007 Doing Business Report, and Cato/Fraser Institute?s 2006 Economic Freedom Report were released back-to-back, Sep 6 and Sep 7, respectively, begging for some compare-and-contract action. First, what are the...
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BOP Schools Provide Temporary Relief for Troubled Public Education Systems
?The accepted wisdom is wrong,? says James Tooley, winner of the FT?s recent essay contest, as he rips into the prevailing notion that developing country education problems can be solved with more aid. He continues his tirade, attacking development experts that on the one hand prioritize...
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Comments/Criticisms on Doing Biz? Air Them.
We?ve discussed the World Bank?s Doing Business report previously on this blog, and now the WB has made it so you can continue the conversation on their website. Check here for a link to the Doing Business discussion forum, open to thoughts and analysis from the general public.There is...
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The 2006 Emerging Markets Private Equity Forum
An important event is coming up for investors interested in the booming, capital-hungry markets of India, China, South Africa and other emerging economies: The Emerging Markets Private Equity Association is hosting its annual forum in London November 30th through December 1st. ...
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Hacking the Hundred Dollar Laptop
Whatever you think about Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop per Child from the policy and practicality perspectives, you can’t help but applaud what the project is doing on the technical side. The new issue of Technology Review has a fascinating article on the computer, and its innovative...
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Where Are the Real BOP Stories?
?It makes good journalistic fodder, but it?s just the same story over and over!? This was fellow blogger Rob Katz?s comment when I called him about posting a story on the Strappity-do-da company. His frustration was similar to that expressed by Ethan when he complained about...
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