Category Archives: development economics
Can good rules be replicated? — thoughts from the proposal of charter cities
My thoughts are from Paul Romer’s (bio) radical idea about charter cities (TED link). He talked about building cities with good rules (institutions) which drives people to move there and businesses to grow, finally accelerating urbanization process in underdeveloped areas around the world. According to Prof. Romer, we need rules which offer more choices to people and more choices to …
Microfinance in China
Microfinance is a way to lift people out of poverty. The poor have little income and are often subject to credit constraints (liquidity constraints). So they cannot invest in production tools and are trapped in poverty. Microfinance provides the poor with small amount of loans and support their investments for the longer horizons. I once talked …
Africa: a promising land
A recent Economist article addressed the hopes in Africa to stimulate the world economic growth. In the recent ten years, Africa has been catching up with Asia in terms of GDP growth and is likely to become the fastest growing area in the world. A general account of Africa can be found at The history of Africa, by …
Barefoot College: education for the poor
The founder of the organization, Bunker Roy, gave an impressive TED talk. The organization (website) was set up to tackle grave problems like drinking water quality, female education, health and sanitation, electricity and power, and social awareness and the conservation of ecological systems in rural India. Its successful experiences have been promoted to other developing areas in Africa …
A Conversation with Professor Michael Spence
The conversation yesterday was titled “Sustainable Growth in Asia: Challenges as the Advanced Economies Slow in a Resource-Constrained World”. Professor Spence was a Nobel Laureate in 2001 for his work that assessed how markets try to close informational gaps. Professor Spence identified four aspects for countries around the world to succeed in the future: 1. …
Tackling development problems: small steps toward a better world
There are several videos which I strongly recommend for those without any knowledge about development economics: 1. Esther Duflo: Social experiments to fight poverty (youtube) 2. Global-X interview: Muhammad Yunus - Grameen Bank (youtube) 3. Professor Karthik Muralidharan’s work on Teacher’s Pay in India (youtube) The first is a TED talk given by MIT Professor Esther Duflo, who specializes in …
Professor Wu Jinglian on the Comprehensive Plan of China’s Reforms
maryandmusic ♦ March 24, 2012 ♦ Leave a Comment
Professor Wu Jinglian (bio) is a renowned Chinese economist and one of the leading figures in China’s economic reform. He came to Hong Kong University yesterday and delivered a public lecture named “Comprehensive Plan and Top-Level Design for China’s Reforms”. The following points are what I found the most interesting in his speech: 1. The meaning of “comprehensive plan”. The term …
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