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Microcredit in India: Will It Last?
Two weeks ago on these pages, Rob Katz blogged about an opinion piece in the New York Times, which discussed India?s brewing controversy over microcredit.? Last week, The Economist followed suit, writing its own opinion of the controversy, which, I must confess, is a lot rosier.? Here are...
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Installing Wireless Internet in Rwanda
When Greg Whyler, an American tech entrepreneur, purchased Rwandatel, Rwanda?s government owned telecom monopoly, he found that his new company paid 12 employees ?whose sole job was to play on the company soccer team.?? Now that?s pretty cool!? Of course Greg Whyler didn?t think...
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The Latest News on the $100 Laptop
This fall more than 500 children in Thailand will be part of a pilot program for ?quality testing and debugging? of the $100 laptop.? The One Laptop Per Child program, which is supplying the computers, is the brainchild of tech guru Nicholas Negroponte, who has spent the last several years...
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Bikes That Power Laptops
I?ll come right out and say it: I have discovered a cure for childhood obesity.? But it?s not the kid?s meal equivalent of the Atkins or South Beach Diet.? Because serious problems require serious solutions, I suggest that we turn to Uganda and see how villagers power their cell phones,...
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India’s American Dream
In its latest issue, Business Week published an interesting article on the Ramanujan School of Mathematics, a preparatory academy that trains low-income students in the art of test taking: ?Every April, some 230,000 Indian youths sharpen their pencils and sit for the intensely competitive...
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Cuba: From Red to Green?
In 2001, during one of his excessively long speeches, Fidel Castro passed out at the lectern, an event which fueled serious speculation about the Cuban leader?s health. Three years later, after giving another drawn out speech, Castro tripped and fell, breaking his arm and shattering his knee...
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Mobile Banking Hits Colombia
In an article published in last week?s La Republica, the Colombian equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, Jorge Barrios reports that Bancolombia, Colombia?s largest bank, is poised to launch a mobile banking service, which will allow the bank?s clients to make payments, money transfers,...
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Summer Reading Series: A Swing Through Amazon
Yesterday, I recommended a back issue of IDBAmerica; today, I?m piggybacking on conventional wisdom to determine my book recommendations. I am an infrequent Amazon.com user, but I am sold on their community-driven recommendation feature. You know what I?m talking about ? if you click on a...
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