Oct 13
When it comes to development, is GDP the only thing that matters? The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) says no. The OECD released a new report that looks at a variety of statistics with the hope of finding new measures for assessing well-being that go beyond Gross Domestic Product. The authors of the …
Oct 04
Two years ago, I was backpacking though Asia, I found myself in Seoul, South Korea visiting friends and watching the World Cup finale. Against direct orders from my parents, I decided to take a tour up to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the North Korean border. Having known a substantial bit of history about the …
Sep 30
Anyone having read aid literature is familiar with the stories about underfunded and overcrowded disease clinics throughout Africa. Where patients don’t have the means to pay for treatments, and often medications are in too short supply. These grueling stories tug at the heartstrings of foreign donors, and because they are so far removed from a …
Sep 23
Uganda Skimming over the New York Times this morning, I noted that the first article in their global edition was regarding the outrage that Oxfam is uncovering about Ugandan settlers being displaced on behalf of the Ugandan government and an international organization. Despite being a catchy headline on a leading newspaper, unfortunately these practices are …
Sep 22
It’s officially fall now, which means the Arab Spring has now entered its third season, and, unfortunately, the economic situation that partially contributed to the uprisings in many of the countries has not improved at all. In many cases it is even getting worse. Institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the European Investment Bank, …
Sep 16
The state of Penang, Malaysia, has stumbled upon an interesting economic growth device: hospitals. The region boasts numerous private hospitals and those hospitals draw an impressive number of medical tourists each year, which boosts Penang’s economy, as well as Malaysia’s as a whole. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, medical tourists are pretty …
Sep 14
En un esfuerzo de reducir el trafico de drogras, muchos paises han recurrido a la erradicacion forzada de cultivos ilegales. Existen dos principales maneras en las que la erradicacion forzada toma lugar: fumigacion aerea o eliminacion por tierra. En teoria, se assume que la erradicacion de estos cultivos permitira y detendra el trafico de drogas. …
Sep 13
Being a current student in New York City, it been hard to avoid all of the attention being paid to the 10-year anniversary of September 11th this last weekend. While I was not here when the attacks took place, I can’t help but be drawn in to the debates of where the city is now …
Sep 13
In Mexico, it is calculated that a little over 50% of the population is urban. Since the 1940’s, the urban population began to grow exponentially because of the lack of economic support for the rural population. In the last 50 years there have been important political and economic decisions that have given people large incentives …
Aug 25
Microfinance has become something of a buzzword in recent years (depending on which circles you run in), and the industry’s increase in popularity has also lead to an increase in criticism. You may remember my last post about microfinance, as well as the posts written by my colleagues, but for those of you who don’t, …
