I was at an interesting Seattle Social Venture Partners event tonight for a discussion on philanthropy. Doug and Maggie Walker very openly shared their journey along the path of giving their time and money towards their passions. One of the words that seemed to keep jumping out at me tonight was the term “non-profit.” Some… Continue reading Why do we call them non-profits?
One Laptop per Child folks are continuing to push the envelope … a device made completely of plastic … and running Google’s Android OS = lots of apps! More details…
You don’t even need a data plan if you have one of the 50+ mobile operators listed below. It’s called 0.facebook.com. This could be a great new communications and collaboration tool for many of the world’s literate poor who increasingly have a mobile phone. Here’s an overview on Techcrunch.
I recently spent a week in Myanmar and posted updates on the situation in Myanmar and perspectives on Myanmar. One of the less known facts about Myanmar is that while ethnic Burmans represent an estimated 60-65% of the population of about 50 million (this may be low), malady the balance of the population are other… Continue reading Ethnic Minorities in Myanmar
Earlier this month, I visited Myanmar (formerly Burma) and had the privilege of meeting with a wide variety of people from all walks of life. Earlier, I posted a summary of the current situation in Myanmar. I thought I would share some of my interactions to help paint a picture of current day Myanmar. Part… Continue reading Perspectives on Myanmar
The Economist recently reported some interesting observations about why Latin America has fallen so far behind the economic growth in East Asia. One word — Worker Productivity The chart on the right shows that in the past 30 years relative to the USA, workers in East Asia have increased their productivity faster and workers in… Continue reading Worker productivity really does matter everywhere
I just returned from 7 days in Myanmar (formerly called Burma). I’m going to make a couple of posts on my learnings and thoughts. Part I: The Situation in Myanmar Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962 after becoming independent from the British Empire in 1948. Myanmar has made global headlines over the past… Continue reading The situation in Myanmar
Kaushik Basu of Cornell University and author of Prelude to Political Economy: A Study of the Social and Political Foundations of Economics, researched and found that governments rarely listen to economic advisors unless they are telling them what they want to hear. Basu recently became the chief economic advisor to India’s finance ministry and so… Continue reading A better way of tracking economic growth?
Recommended Reading Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day by Collins, Morduch, Rutherford & Ruthven This recently published book has got a lot of buzz amongst the microfinance industry as providing new insights into the actual financial activities of < $2/day (key UN definition of very poor) families. The… Continue reading Portfolios of the Poor book review
Walt Ratterman died during the earthquake in Haiti. “He has personally brought light to thousands of people around the world.” Read about his work and see pictures
Defeat Poverty 