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  • Paul Romer's Charter City Idea Closer to Becoming a Reality

    Two years ago, we highlighted a talk by Paul Romer in which he put forward the idea of creating new cities that would be sustainable, economic powerhouses. Now, Romer says this idea is coming closer to becoming a reality. In this recent Ted Talk , Romer tells of plans to create a new city in Honduras:

  • Rebuilding America--Infrastructure Investment and the Future of the Economy

    Big Think has started an interesting series on "the future of economic competition." As part of the series, Parang Khanna, Dambisa Moyo, Daniel Altman, and Anand Giridharadas joined a panel discussion on President Obama's ca;l to "rebuild America." The members of this panel argue that the future prosperity of the US depends on real investment in the infrastructure--the physical infrastructure as well as research and education. But there seems to be little optimism that the political powers-that-be can make such investment happen:

  • WWF's Clay on Competitors Working Together for Long Term Sustainability

    Jason Clay is a vice president at WWF, and he works with corporations in an effort to find more sustainable production processes. He says WWF's research shows that we are "living in about 1.3 planets." One potential solution is to make sure all products are made sustainability, Clay argues, and he says that the way to make that happen is to make sustainability a "pre-competitive" issues. That means competitors working together on tackling some big consumption challenges--much as Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, and Tim Horton's are teaming up to develop a new coffee cup . Here is Clay making the case for big brands as the potential saviors for biodiversity and sustainability, and sharing some examples of big companies that are working the problem (Cargill, Mars, Coca-Cola) at a recent TedTalk:

  • Entrepreneurship as a Means to End Poverty

    Jacqueline Novogratz believes that eradicating poverty once and for all is within her "generation's reach." And she is working to apply successful business principles to do just that. Novogratz is CEO of the Acumen Fund , a "non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty" She is also author of The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor . She spoke recently about her belief that entrepreneurial tools offer more hope to fight global poverty than charity. Here is an excerpt from Fora.tv:

  • Sachs on Rebuilding Haiti

    In a Project Syndicate commentary, Jeffrey Sachs argues that rebuilding the Haitian economy will require creating an infrastructure that works, and focusing on a handful of key areas: The economy will have a simple structure in the coming years, with most economic activities focused in five sectors: smallholder, or peasant, agriculture; reconstruction; port services and light manufacturing; local small-scale trade; and public services, including health care and education. The key challenge is to support these five sectors in order to combine short-term relief with long-term reconstruction and development. First, special efforts should be made to boost peasant agriculture and rural communities. This will enable hundreds of thousands of displaced people to return to their village communities and live from farming. With fertilizer, improved seeds, small-scale irrigation, rapid training and extension services, and low-cost storage silos, Haiti’s food production could double or triple in the next few years, sustaining the country and building a new rural economy. Reconstruction – of roads, buildings, and water and sanitation systems – will employ tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Haitian construction workers, and boost the regeneration of towns. The World Food Program can help peasant farmers to produce more food in the countryside and then purchase the food to use in food-for-work programs oriented to construction projects. Read Reconstructing Haiti here .

  • Acemoglu on Institutions, Prosperity, and What Makes Poor Countries Poor

    MIT economist Daron Acemoglu believes institutions matter when it comes to generating prosperity. And in analyzing what makes rich countries rich, and poor countries poor, one has to look primarily at government. Or as he writes in Esquire : "Put simply: Fix incentives and you will fix poverty. And if you wish to fix institutions, you have to fix governments." How do we know that institutions are so central to the wealth and poverty of nations? Start in Nogales, a city cut in half by the Mexican-American border fence. There is no difference in geography between the two halves of Nogales. The weather is the same. The winds are the same, as are the soils. The types of diseases prevalent in the area given its geography and climate are the same, as is the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic background of the residents. By logic, both sides of the city should be identical economically. And yet they are far from the same. On one side of the border fence, in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, the median household income is $30,000. A few feet away, it's $10,000. On one side, most of the teenagers are in public high school, and the majority of the adults are high school graduates. On the other side, few of the residents have gone to high school, let alone college. Those in Arizona enjoy relatively good health and Medicare for those over sixty-five, not to mention an efficient road network, electricity, telephone service, and a dependable sewage and public-health system. None of those things are a given across the border. There, the roads are bad, the infant-mortality rate high, electricity and phone service expensive and spotty. The key difference is that those on the north side of the border enjoy law and order and dependable government services — they can go about their daily activities and jobs without fear for their life or safety or property rights. On the other side, the inhabitants have institutions that perpetuate crime, graft, and insecurity. Read What Makes a Nation Rich? One Economist's Big Answer here . And take a closer look at the accompanying map/graphic (above) by clicking here .

  • World Bank President Warns of 'Human Catastrophe'

    World Bank President Robert Zoellick says the global economic crisis is already putting a major strain on development and aid efforts, and the World Bank, the IMF , and global leaders need to act now to "prevent a human catastrophe." Zoellick made the remarks at the close of the World Bank's spring meeting. At the press conference, the World Bank's Development Committee outlined the following initiatives to help alleviate the economic challenges in developing countries: • To protect the poorest, the Bank has set up the Vulnerability Financing Facility, including the Global Food Crisis Response Program and the new Rapid Social Response Program. IFC (International Finance Corporation) has also created the Microfinance Enhancement Facility to help poor borrowers. • To reinvigorate trade finance, IFC has expanded its Global Trade Finance Program from $1 billion to $3 billion, and has also launched its Global Trade Liquidity Program, expected to support up to $50 billion of trade over the next three years. • To maintain infrastructure development and create jobs, the Bank has established the Infrastructure Recovery and Assets Platform. The Bank will lend up to $15 billion a year for infrastructure, while IFC has launched the Infrastructure Crisis Facility. • To help support the financial sector , IFC has created the Capitalization Fund, to provide additional capital for developing country banks. MIGA has extended guarantees to loans to Eastern Europe for coverage of $500 million. You can read Zoellick's remarks here , and watch the full Development Committee news conference here .