OLPC Lesson Part 2: Don’t Take Negroponte Seriously
Here is another lesson to be drawn from the experience of the OLPC XO series. Don't take Nicholas Negroponte seriously. Even he doesn't.
Featured Posts
Two articles on economics from leading development economists, one from the last century and another from our times, show the state of economics and the direction it should take if it is to help solve our problems, rather than simply becoming an ideological battleground.
The WSJ promotes a World Bank proposal to create a new "vulnerability fund" for poor countries to offset lost remittances. But such a fund would do more harm than good. A better idea would be to just pay the migrant workers this money and let them send it to their home countries.
Education
Proponents of the OLPC assert that it is “changing education”, transforming students into self-learners, and making “discussions about whether to have computers in the classroom” obsolete. But in a world where schools still struggle to have a building and a blackboard, surely such enthusiasm is overstated.
The state of the US primary education system has important lessons for Indian policymakers. India’s goal should be to decouple educational performance from socioeconomic background. But this requires treating the problem of access to, not just quality of, education.
Politics
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to embrace Pakistan in Egypt, saying dialogue is the only way forward. He renders us weak for future negotiations and ignores that Pakistan does not want peace. He should remember that if you want peace, prepare for war.
Sri Lanka has finally defeated the LTTE and declared victory. But to secure the peace it may learn from the experiences of Palestine and India. Building a unified state will require the government to make some sacrifices too.
Environment
The Indian Solar Mission is an example of a developing country attempting to decouple growth from carbon emissions. But if developed countries want concerted action on climate change it is time they put their money where their mouth is. Then we can start defining a post-Kyoto framework.
Ecuador’s new constitution grants nature legal rights and humans the ability to sue as proxies. Environmentalists hail this as a major step towards conservation. But is this anything more than a principle that is practically unenforcable and legally meaningless?
Health
Health policy and practice continue to be key issues on the development agenda. A short introduction to Global Health Ideas – a blog that has been following changes in that agenda and now has a new home.
Google Flu Trends generated excitement on the possibilities of tracking and predicting disease outbreaks. But the swine flu outbreak illustrates key limitations of this methodology, and also areas where it could be enhanced.
Welcome to The Discomfort Zone
The Discomfort Zone is an online magazine presenting critical and objective opinion and analysis on issues pertinent to the developing world and to international development. It brings forth a global perspective to question the policy and practice of development.
Recent Posts
Proponents of the OLPC assert that it is “changing education”, transforming students into self-learners, and making “discussions about whether to have computers in the classroom” obsolete. But in a world where schools still struggle to have a building and a blackboard, surely such enthusiasm is overstated.
Investors in the stock market know they can both loose and gain money. Entrepreneurs accept the same principle when setting up companies. Why should executives be different? To make compensation work and be fair, bonuses for good performance should be matched by actual penalties for poor performance.
The catalytic philanthropist seems to have arrived. But is that a good thing? By putting faith in individuals is society not delegating responsibility for improving its lot to wealthy individuals rather than to the elected representatives that are usually mandated that task?
Financing for global public goods remains dangerously low. Yet the Gates Foundation shows there is a case for an international institution to invest in the needs of developing countries. Subramanian suggests the World Bank should do this – will the developed world agree?
The WSJ report of too much microfinance raises a dangerous parallel with the subprime crises. It is time that social investors scaled back their optimism on the impact of microfinance and its investment potential. As this crises has shown, endless growth cannot be without consequence.
The Indian Solar Mission is an example of a developing country attempting to decouple growth from carbon emissions. But if developed countries want concerted action on climate change it is time they put their money where their mouth is. Then we can start defining a post-Kyoto framework.
