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Viewpoint: Opportunity Zones Should Deliver More Than Profit and Tax Breaks
Across the country, thousands of communities in or near an opportunity zone could be embarking upon one of the most profound experimental economic programs in generations. Structured correctly, opportunity zone investments can direct billions dollars in private investment toward the kind of new development, skills training and infrastructure upgrades these communities so badly need.
- Region
- North America
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Rockefeller Foundation Aims to Make Tax Perk Work for Poor
The Rockefeller Foundation is set to announce Tuesday that it will hand out $5.5 million to help six U.S. cities promote “responsible” investment in areas designated as opportunity zones.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North America
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Why Data Ownership is a Bridge Across Digital Divides
Emerging markets have traditionally experienced “data poverty” – data that is inaccessible, and poorly captured, controlled and distributed. But big data sources are now serving as proxies for all kinds of information – on everything from GDP and growth to demographics and poverty. This represents a big opportunity for emerging markets to leapfrog the technical limitations faced by developed economies, writes Gavin Heaton of the company Hu-manity.co. He sees a day when lower-income citizens have the opportunity to profit from their data, rather than being subjugated by it.
- Categories
- Technology
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Viewpoint: Reforming Microfinance to Alleviate Poverty, Foster National Development
About 90 per cent of Nigeria’s businesses are considered microenterprises. Despite this huge number, easy access to funds has remained a challenge for most Small and Medium Enterprises, in spite of several government funding initiatives.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: 3 Reasons the Impact of Microcredit May Be Bigger Than We Thought
There was little evidence of female empowerment. Microloans did foster entrepreneurialism, but at the cost of other sources of income. However, subsequent research has hinted that rumors of microcredit’s demise as a poverty intervention do appear to be exaggerated, perhaps substantially, and I want to present three reasons why the impact of microcredit around the world, while modest on average, is almost certainly bigger than we thought it was a few years ago.
- Categories
- Finance
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Viewpoint: Amid a Crisis of Inequality, $2 Trillion of Tax-Free Investing in Opportunity Zones Could Benefit Both Rich and Poor
More than $2 trillion in unrealized gains sit on the ledgers of investors and corporations, according to the Economic Innovation Group. Investing these funds directly in 8,700 Opportunity Zones (or 1 in 8 U.S. Census tracts) for 10 years or more would eliminate any federal taxes due on those gains – and potentially reduce poverty via job creation and income growth related to those investments.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North America
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Viewpoint: Can the Microcredit Model Be Improved?
Microcredit is frequently touted as an effective policy tool to fight global poverty. But studies suggest that the long-term impact on recipients’ lives is limited. Yale SOM’s Mushfiq Mobarak and the University of Chicago’s Vikas Dimble write that microcredit can help more people by modifying and extending its model.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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MIT D-Lab Awards Fellowships to Six East African Social Entrepreneurs
“We are excited to work with a vibrant cohort of East African entrepreneurs whose expertise is grounded in their lived reality,” says Jona Repishti, who manages the fellowship. “Working with local founders has certain advantages — they reflect the demographics of the markets they serve; their lived experience helps them identify unique, scalable, market-based solutions overlooked by outsiders."
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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