Dweep Chanana
Should taxpayers subsidize philanthropists?
The Huffington Post carries a rare critique of big-ticket philanthropy. As philanthropists gain more influence and tread on issues previously in the public space, does the taxpayer have to subsidize their view on how public financing should be spent?
The OLPC (should be) Dead, Let Live the Aakash
The OLPC project will launch its third iteration at this years CES, but 6 years after launch it may still not reach the elusive USD 100 target. Meanwhile, a small startup in Canada has orders to ship 2 million of its USD 50 tablets to Indian consumers. It is time the OLPC was put to rest.
Poor Economics: dragging development policy from ideology to evidence
Poor Economics is not your ordinary book on how to help the poor. Rather, it should encourage us to ask the right questions and to look for answers in evidence. Most important, it should force us to review what we know, or presume to know, about the lives of those we seek to help.
Coordinating emerging donor aid – a nonstarter?
As emerging donors have challenged the established foreign aid universe, pressure has grown on them to collaborate with traditional donors. However, such calls are likely to yield few results – new and traditional donors have substantially different objectives. Most important, traditional donors demand coordination but offer nothing in return.
In India, an attempt to outsource the fight against corruption
Anna Hazare may have placed corruption front and center on the public agenda. But the proposed solution will undermine India’s political system, which is working for many, and only shift the problem elsewhere.
Microfinance backlash underlines contradictions of social business
The backlash against microfinance in India has exposed a fundamental contradiction of social businesses – that they are essentially businesses. Private capital may help them grow but it brings with it a strong tendency to turn social businesses from being social to being businesses.
Is their a better dream than the American Dream?
There are at least two ways to measure a society – to what extent is it equal and to what extent is it just. America has failed on both counts. Developing countries, looking to growth must find better ways to protect their own populations from the vagaries of destiny and birth.
Non-profit impact: peers as a proxy for quality
In the non-profit world, the word of peers seems to take precedence over most other indicators, as a proxy for quality of a charity. This can lead to some twisted incentives, and make uncovering and addressing malpractice, rather difficult.
Categories
Most Emailed
- Financial Inclusion in India: Trends Beyond Microfinance - 34 emails
- A literature review of the impact of microfinance - 25 emails
- India’s Foreign Aid Program - 14 emails
- The Indo-US Nuclear Deal: A Post-Henry Hyde Act Analysis - 12 emails
- Nyama Choma at Olepolos - 9 emails
