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The Paradox of Market Solutions: How Individual Consumerism Could Shatter the Future of the BOP
I know it’s considered rude to discuss political issues over meals, but I recently saw An Inconvenient Truth, and I’ve been on an environmental kick ever since. And so it was that last night in my apartment over a dinner of wine chicken marsala a heated discussion ensued that resulted...
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Food for Thought: Urban Agriculture in the Developing World
In the next two decades mass human migrations from rural to urban areas are expected to radically transform the world?s demographic landscape. Much of this migration will take place in the developing world, where rural inhabitants now subsist on small scale farming. As these farmers migrate...
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Mapping the Majority
At a press conference in DC yesterday, the IDB unveiled a cool new interactive tool called ?Mapping the Majority.? It?s an interactive Flash mapping tool ? low-bandwidth readers, consider yourselves warned before clicking through. But for those of us with fast enough connections, I...
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Attitudinal Barrier to Microfinance
I just read a news story describing how microfinance schemes in Ghana (and the banks providing them) are being undermined by a refusal to repay loans. According to the article, “The microfinance programme, which is the bedrock of rural banks, is being thwarted due to the attitude of some...
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Clean and Green: The Brave New World of Composting Toilets
This past Saturday, The Washington Post ran an article, Fighting Our Flux Fixation, on the increased use of eco-friendly toilets in the DC region. What piqued my interest was The Post?s discussion of composting latrines, which have the potential to improve sanitation in many urban and rural...
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What’s in a Map?
For many of us, the combination of economic data plus policy recommendations is the literary equivalent of NyQuil. Unfortunately, good research generally requires the presentation of both data and analysis. So how do we researchers and writers solve this problem? Increasingly, the answer is...
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“The Tool to Send Your Money”
Not an hour after Tuesday’s post on an apparent remittance service offered by The Home Depot, I received an email, from their Media Relations Department, in reply to my request for more information.Here’s what The Home Depot had to say:"On May 8, 2006, The Home Depot launched a...
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This Week: Hope for Change in a Troubled Industry
Proteak?s co-founder, Hector Bonilla is convinced he can defy a deeply engrained and concerning global trend in an extremely problematic sector. He operates within the law, practices responsible forestry and runs a transparent company. This might seem routine, until you consider what he does...
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