ABOUT THE LECTURE:Three billion people on earth live on less than two dollars a day. A relative handful of us fare astronomically better. How do economists account for global “haves” and “have-nots”? Roberto Rigobon attributes a vast income inequality across countries to four connecting factors: luck, geography, quality of institutions, and quality of policies. If a country lies close to the 50th parallel, its citizens’ average income is six times greater than that of an equatorial country. Heat takes a toll on nation-building. Take Caribbean and Latin American countries, which experienced a wave of malaria in the 1500’s. Spanish colonists preferred to extract resources and send them home, rather than risk death by staying. Those nations developed impoverished economies and institutions that continue today. Colonists moved to cooler climes settled down, invested in the new world, and created enduring social structures. Rigobon can’t recommend a single, economic, or political doctrine to help a struggling nation achieve prosperity. “The set of rules depends on a country’s culture, history and religion…. In the end the only sustainable regime is democracy, freedom of speech, and the rule of law, but how we get there isn’t irrelevant.” Rigobon encourages developing nations to embrace social and political conflict as “an opportunity to improve.”
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MIT World » : Institutions, Geography, and Growth - 0 views
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I found this after having viewed his most recent talk at MIT. Rigobon can be rather irreverant, but there are many points of connection today with what he was saying back in 2004. One area he might have gotten wrong is picking Russia over China in terms of long term development, that could be argued though he migh have changed his mind since then.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - 0 views
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On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2009 - 0 views
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The World Social Summit identified poverty eradication as an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of mankind and called on governments to address the root causes of poverty, provide for basic needs for all and ensure that the poor have access to productive resources, including credit, education and training. Recognizing insufficient progress in the poverty reduction, the 24th special session of the General Assembly devoted to the review of the Copenhagen commitments, decided to set up targets to reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by one half by 2015. This target has been endorsed by the Millennium Summit as Millennium Development Goal 1.
American Idiots: How Washington is destroying the economy - The Term Sheet: Fortune's d... - 1 views
RIO+20 must build a new economic order - TH!NK ABOUT IT - 0 views
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In Rio, the United Nations must together build a new economic order.
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While taking measures to tackle the crisis, we must separate growth from environmental damage.
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we call on political leaders to renew their commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals and to adopt additional measures backed up with the necessary funding. We call on developed countries in particular to implement their commitment to allocate 0.7% of their gross national income to development aid.
Center for Strategic and International Studies - 0 views
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At a time of new global opportunities and challenges, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides strategic insights and policy solutions to decisionmakers in government, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society. A bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, CSIS conducts research and analysis and develops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change.
SFRC Chairman Kerry Ready to Enact Reforms in New Development Policy « Modern... - 0 views
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MFAN is a reform coalition composed of international development and foreign policy practitioners, policy advocates and experts, concerned citizens and private sector organizations. MFAN's goal is to help build a safer, more prosperous world by strengthening the United States' ability to alleviate extreme poverty, create opportunities for growth, and secure human dignity in developing countries.
CPRC - Chronic Poverty Reports Area - Report 2008-9 - 0 views
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Four years ago, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre published the Chronic Poverty Report 2004-05. This was the first major international development report to focus on the estimated 320 to 445 million people who live trapped in chronic poverty – people who will remain poor for much or all of their lives and whose children are likely to inherit their poverty. These chronically poor experience multiple deprivations, including hunger, under-nutrition, illiteracy, lack of access to safe drinking water and basic health services, social discrimination, physical insecurity and political exclusion. Many will die prematurely of easily preventable deaths.
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CPRC is an international partnership of universities, research institutes and NGOs established in 2000 with initial funding from the UK's Department for International Development.
MCA Monitor Blog: Responsible Appropriation? Another Look at the Senate's MCA Slashing - 0 views
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Looks at the funding levels of the Millennium Challenge Account provided by Congress
Obama's Global Tax Proposal Up for Senate Vote - 0 views
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Good news Obama and Biden support funding the Millennium Development Goals. Bad news they want to tax to do it which means it might never happen.
Millennium Challenge Corporation Investment Indicators - 0 views
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lists the 17 indicators used to determine country eligibility for MCC program assistance.
Global Health: What would Barack do? « Open Budgets Blog - 0 views
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Electing those who would support the Millennium Development Goal for Global Health will only be a first step.
Millennium Campaign | MDG in Asia and the Pacific - 0 views
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The Millennium Campaign aims to build political will for the achievement of the MDGs primarily through raising public awareness and increasing pressure on governments. Through supporting national campaigns with advocacy, networking, mass mobilizations, training and capacity building, as well as media and communications development the Millennium Campaign works with citizens to monitor and hold their government's to account for their commitments made to achieving the MDGs.
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The Millennium Campaign emerged as a response to the failing efforts of governments in keeping their promises and commitments to achieve the MDGs by the target year 2015. As an initiative of the UN, the Campaign aims to inspire a global movement to achieve the Goals and eradicate extreme poverty by 2015.
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