Topic: Economic Development

Microcredit Entrepreneur wins Nobel Peace Prize

A simple business plan based on the concept of microcredit just won Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize. Yunus was awarded the prize today for the bank he founded, the Grameen Bank, which provides average loans ...READ»

The Global Trade

Discussion of Global Capital Markets and Emerging Market opportunities as a result of the G20 summitREAD»

The Carbon Industry's Main Players

Professors dominate the emerging carbon market from finance firms to industry, nonprofits to the World BankREAD»

• Carbon Boom
• The King of Green Investing
• Silicon Valley's Angel Investors

No Loose Screws

A new model for local business development.READ»

Create A New Category – Build A Profitable Niche

On Wednesday I started an examination of an investment strategy firm that specializes in microfinance, Minlam Asset Management. As I interviewed one of Minlam’s founders, Mike Hokenson, I noticed a reoccurring theme that I see ...READ»

Inside PopTech's Solar-Powered Bag FLAP: Joining Forces With the Portable Light Project

The third installment of our story about the new bag by PopTech, Sheila Kennedy of KVA MATx discusses the importance of bringing clean, mobile energy to developing nations.READ»

• PopTech's Solar-Powered Bag FLAP

How an Economist's Cry for Ethical Capitalism was Heard

Not long ago, economist Noreena Hertz lived at the lefty margins of her field. But her (widely ignored) prediction of the credit crisis and her call for a more evolved form of capitalism have suddenly put her at the center of the universe.READ»

China Surpasses U.S. as Leader in Sub-Sahara

That the West is losing the sub-Sahara does not come as news in Africa itself. One leader after another has been explicit on this point, from Senegal's president ("Today, it is very clear that Europe is close to losing the ...READ»

Life cycle of Outsourcing: A Conceptual study

This blog aims at looking at outsourcing from the perspective of its life cycle. An attempt to understand the birth and growth of this phenomenon called outsourcing. To start off, I would quote from wikipedia which has this to say ...READ»

India - The Super Job Creator

A recent study shows that India is by far the highest new jobs creator in the world. It may be celebration time for Indians, but is this also the right time to reflect on aspects that could bring the party crashing down? Well, ...READ»

The Ecological Credit Crunch

Banks and the automobile industry have had the luxury of government bailouts, but what about Mother Nature? Who should be responsible for paying off the huge ecological debt that has accumulated over years of use and abuse of the world’s natural resources? The idea of an ecological credit crunch happening may seem far-fetched, but the truth is we are using up limited resources that are fast running out. We may not have much longer before an ecological credit crisis occurs.READ»

Shallow Pockets

Continuing the microlending work pioneered by Muhammad Yunus Bangladeshi microlending institution the Grameen Bank, grassroots financiers such as Indonesian Ishak Fatoni indicate that microlending can be macro-profitable. But don't ...READ»

Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group

When this league of extraordinary gentlepeople convened in Washington last spring, they were met -- as is usual for world summits now -- with a small but creative resistance. "There were about 1,500 of us," recalls Lacy MacAuley of ...READ»

Networks in the Developing World

Lane Smith coordinates the USAID's Leland Initiative, an effort to extend full Internet connectivity to more than 20 African countries in order to promote sustainable development. Rahul Tongia is a research engineer of engineering ...READ»

Al Gore: Oil "Junkie" America Needs Third World Help

The former Vice President, clean-shaven in a dark suit and black cowboy boots, pauses. "Junkies find veins in their toes, when the veins in their arms and legs collapse," he says to Charlie Rose. The audience suffers an ...READ»

One Laptop Per Child: Failure is not an Option

The news that the XO Laptop developed by the One Laptop Per Child foundation is launching a buy-one-get-one sale to encourage first world consumers to help fund laptops for children in developing countries has spawned an eager chorus ...READ»

Credit For All

For Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, access to credit is a human right. Providing credit to the world’s poor, Yunus believes, clashes with the profit-maximizing goal of conventional ...READ»

Bono, Beware: Dambisa Moyo on Aid, Microfinance, and the Problem of Celebs in Africa

The Zambian economist and author of the new book "Dead Aid" explains her beef with the U2 frontman, her love for the Chinese, and her high hopes for her home continent.READ»

Digging Out

The idea of putting people to work was largely neglected after the invasion of Iraq. Now, as debate mounts over troop withdrawals, one strategy might help fill the void.READ»

Free Trade Isn't Fair

Mike Dolan is leading a long-shot crusade against the new economy's most widely shared belief: that global economic integration -- of countries, companies, currencies, and markets -- is both virtuous and inevitable.READ»

Google Lets You Search World Bank Data

Whether you think the World Bank is an engine of worldly improvement or a bunch of fascist goons, you'll probably still want to look at their exhaustive trove of data, which was made available today by Google. Google has mashed ...READ»

Mercy Corps: The Bank of Banks

CEO: Neal Keny-GuyerREAD»

• Edward Norton's $9,000,000,000 Housing Project (that's $9 Billion)
• A High Point
• Eureka!: Social Enterprises of the Year

Google Lets You Search World Bank Data

Whether you think the World Bank is an engine of worldly improvement or a bunch of fascist goons, you'll probably still want to look at their exhaustive trove of data, which was made available today by Google. Google has mashed ...READ»

Rwanda Rising: A New Model of Economic Development

Fifteen years after the genocide, the small African country has embraced a new model of economic development. Its strategy: Build a global network of powerful friends to lure private investment -- and market the brand of Rwanda.READ»

• Slideshow: The Rwandan Genocide 15 Years Later

The Agenda for the 1990s

Harvard business school professor Michael E. Porter has made his career studying competitive advantage - how to create it, how to sustain it - starting with individual companies, then vaulting to entire nations.READ»