The Economist recently wrote about (article: With reservations) the current debate within India about whether the existing affirmative action (called “reservations” in India) quota legislation for the poor should be extended from higher-education education and government jobs to private companies. First, there are a variety of viewpoints of who should get affirmative action benefits. Historically,… Continue reading Affirmative action for the poor
I remember reading an article in The Economist sometime last year (I can’t remember the exact issue) which was reviewing the impact/results of the various populist political movements in the past 50 years which have cyclically swept through Latin American countries. They all generally followed a similar model … an elite group was governing politics… Continue reading Populist redistribution isn’t working
I was recently interviewed by Levi Hug, look an economics student at Eastern Oregon University. Here’s a sampling of the Q&A… Levi: What do you see that’s particularly special about microfinance, when compared to other forms of development? Dave: I write a blog (defeatpoverty.com) and one of the things I’ve been particularly interested in and… Continue reading Interview on microfinance
I recently blogged about how the caste system was being lived out on the streets of India in the life of one very poor dalit woman. About a month ago, (yes, I’m behind on blogging) the Wall Street Journal wrote a front-page weekend edition piece called “Caste Away” about a dalit (aka an Untouchable) who… Continue reading The Caste System in India Lives
A month ago, Wal-Mart announced that it was finally entering the financial services business. I say, finally, because an unlikely group of anti-Wal-Mart collaborators … big banks threatened by Wal-Mart’s commitment to low-cost financial services and the traditional anti-Wal-Mart folks (populist politicians, union organizers and a range of other interests) … had successfully blocked Wal-Mart… Continue reading Working Poor 1, Anti-Wal-Mart Coalition 0
Warning … this video is not for those with a weak stomach. But it does seem to be an authentic day-in-the-life video of a dalit woman in India. The dalits (aka Untouchables) are at the bottom of the caste ladder in India. Many people describe the caste system in India as an apartheid or slavery… Continue reading Why government jobs aren’t the solution
Muhammad Yunus, the recently announced 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, did an interview that was recently published in Ode Magazine. Here are a few of his quotes: “What all these pop stars and politicians want, is the usual recipe: charity. But charity is not the way to… Continue reading Is charity the wrong approach?
If climate change is happening and if these changes result in impact on humans, then most people agree that the poor will be inproportionately burdened with the negative impact of climate change. So, this is my interest in this blog. I say “if” because there is disagreement on climate change … particularly on how much… Continue reading Climate change … seeking the whole story
I wrote previously about an insightful book by Hernando de Soto called The Mystery of Capital which argues for the importance of legitimizing land rights for the poor as a key in breaking poverty. By not having legal right to property, the poor people’s property is effect “dead capital” as it cannot be used as… Continue reading Land titles necessary, but insufficient
I have supported global poverty reductions since I was a kid. This included sponsoring children through World Vision, ambulance sending money for relief efforts on many disasters, site funding people volunteering their time to go on mission trip projects to help people with building projects and in many other ways. While much of this felt… Continue reading About my journey
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