Category: Development

‘Choose growth or accept poverty for billions’

August 12, 2021

“The Growth Report kills off once and for all the misguided notion that you can lift people out of poverty in the absence of growth,” Spence said. “It is impossible for poor countries to lift large populations out of poverty without growth. Equality of opportunity and a focus on individuals and families, gender inequalities and economic security, however, is critical to maintaining the support for growth-oriented policies.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/may/22/globaleconomy.economics

Morning Edition Podcast: Cash Aid Could Solve Poverty — But There’s A Catch

August 12, 2021

There were two ways that the recipients used the cash to get ahead. In families led by people who were unable to work, they mainly used the money to hire others to help them farm their land more productively. But the young families — because they were able-bodied — did something that Handa argues is remarkable, and even more promising when it comes to growing Zambia’s economy long term: They became entrepreneurial.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/08/09/542357298/cash-handouts-could-solve-poverty-but-theres-a-catch

Unit Plan: Fair Trade

August 12, 2021

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of fair trade. By investigating the compelling question “Is Fair Trade Fair?” students evaluate the rise of fair trade as it relates to several specialty industries; such as the coffee industry. The formative performance tasks build on knowledge and skills through the course of the inquiry and helps students obtain a foundational understanding of fair trade. Students also examine differences between fair and free trade, and finally analyze the costs of benefits of free trade. Students create an evidence-based argument about the overall fairness of fair trade.

http://c3teachers.org/inquiries/fair-trade/

Shell settlement with Ogoni people stops short of full justice

August 12, 2021

Shell’s decision to settle out of court with a group of Ogoni people rather than take them on in New York means a measure of justice has come to the Niger Delta. The sum of $15.5m (£9.6m) may be peanuts for the company and nothing can compensate the 500,000 Ogoni people for generations of devastating pollution, human rights abuses and persecution. But while Shell insists that the result is no admission of guilt, it nevertheless represents a triumph for an impoverished community over one of the richest companies in the world.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2009/jun/09/saro-wiwa-shell

Online Game: 3rd World Farmer

August 12, 2021

3rd World Farmer lets you experience some of the hardships of farming in a poor country. Will you prosper despite corruption and lack of basic neccessities? Or will endless wars, diseases, droughts, and unreliable markets perpetuate your economic disadvantage and spell your ultimate doom?

3rd World farmer is a serious game, developed on a very slim budget. It is not precise in all details, but covers a wide range of topics. It is meant to be both educational and slightly provocative, with the sole intent of making people think about these topics and, hopefully, realize that each of us can make a difference in helping to end poverty.

https://3rdworldfarmer.org/?fbclid=IwAR3OYJk_phGXKawwG5KxxfA1QVptOjNJgWI6hRXo6Io96r96MNR24_Fp7Q8

Beyond Neoliberal Trade

August 12, 2021

The growth of trade and the deepening of financial links over the past several decades has gone hand in hand with the re-entrenchment of a rigid ideological vision of how the international economy functions, and of the external policies that national governments should be encouraged, or permitted, to follow—the so-called Washington Consensus. This consensus has never been absolutely hegemonic, however, and its star has dimmed considerably since its heyday in the 1990s.

https://bostonreview.net/class-inequality/arjun-jayadev-j-w-mason-beyond-neoliberal-trade

How Globalization Came to the Brink of Collapse

August 12, 2021

Many of the advantages of economic globalization, such as increased connectivity and interdependence, also give rise to risks, such as the transmission of viruses and lack of self-sufficiency in producing essential items. Once economic globalization is seen as a complex system that involves great benefits as well as systemic risks, it is possible to think more clearly about options for managing those risks to protect against collapse. These options can include reforms that, for instance, reduce concentrated reliance on particular nodes within the system or increase redundancy of essential supplies in order to foster greater resilience. 

https://www.barrons.com/articles/how-globalization-came-to-the-brink-of-collapse-51585865909

How ‘Sustainable’ Development Ravaged the Congo Basin

August 12, 2021

Pygmies and wildlife coexisted for millennia—until conservation coupled with extractive industries arrived

In the pitch-black darkness, sitting on the forest floor with our bodies so close that we touch, we sing, each voice producing a different yodeled melody to create a densely overlapping harmony. As the hours pass, individual melodies melt into one another, and we begin to lose ourselves in the human and acoustic tapestry we have created. The intensity of the singing builds…

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-sustainable-development-ravaged-the-congo-basin/