Mar 04 2013
A TED Talk overview of issues in economic development
Over the next three weeks I will be covering issues in Development Economics with my year 2 IB students. I have often used TED Talks to inspire our class discussions, and this year I decided to compile a “best of TED” playlist to guide us through the IB topics in development.
Day 1 – The Nature of Economic Growth and Development and Measuring Development:
Days 2 and 3 – The role of foreign aid
- David Damberger: What happens when an NGO admits failure | Video on TED.com – International aid groups make the same mistakes over and over again. David Damberger uses his own engineering failure in India to call for the development sector to publicly admit, analyze, and learn from their missteps. Reading Room | Admitting Failure
- Jacqueline Novogratz: A third way to think about aid | Video on TED.com – The debate over foreign aid often pits those who mistrust “charity” against those who mistrust reliance on the markets. Jacqueline Novogratz proposes a middle way she calls patient capital, with promising examples of entrepreneurial innovation driving social change.
- Esther Duflo: Social experiments to fight poverty | Video on TED.com – Alleviating poverty is more guesswork than science, and lack of data on aid’s impact raises questions about how to provide it. But Clark Medal-winner Esther Duflo says it’s possible to know which development efforts help and which hurt — by testing solutions with randomized trials.
Days 4 and 5 – The Role of Domestic Factors:
- Hans Rosling: Religions and babies | Video on TED.com – Hans Rosling had a question: Do some religions have a higher birth rate than others — and how does this affect global population growth? Speaking at the TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar, he graphs data over time and across religions. With his trademark humor and sharp insight, Hans reaches a surprising conclusion on world fertility rates.
- Hans Rosling: The magic washing machine | Video on TED.com – What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. With newly designed graphics from Gapminder, Rosling shows us the magic that pops up when economic growth and electricity turn a boring wash day into an intellectual day of reading.
- Ernest Madu on world-class health care | Video on TED.com – Dr. Ernest Madu runs the Heart Institute of the Caribbean in Kingston, Jamaica, where he proves that — with careful design, smart technical choices, and a true desire to serve — it’s possible to offer world-class healthcare in the developing world.
- Andrew Mwenda takes a new look at Africa | Video on TED.com – In this provocative talk, journalist Andrew Mwenda asks us to reframe the “African question” — to look beyond the media’s stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the continent.
Micro-finance
- Jacqueline Novogratz on escaping poverty | Video on TED.com – Jacqueline Novogratz tells a moving story of an encounter in a Nairobi slum with Jane, a former prostitute, whose dreams of escaping poverty, of becoming a doctor and of getting married were fulfilled in an unexpected way.
- Jessica Jackley: Poverty, money — and love | Video on TED.com – What do you think of people in poverty? Maybe what Jessica Jackley once did: “they” need “our” help, in the form of a few coins in a jar. The co-founder of Kiva.org talks about how her attitude changed — and how her work with microloans has brought new power to people who live on a few dollars a day.
Days 6 and 7 – The Role of International Trade:
- Paul Collier on the “bottom billion” | Video on TED.com – Around the world right now, one billion people are trapped in poor or failing countries. How can we help them? Economist Paul Collier lays out a bold, compassionate plan for closing the gap between rich and poor.
- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on aid versus trade | Video on TED.com – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister of Nigeria, sums up four days of intense discussion on aid versus trade on the closing day of TEDGlobal 2007, and shares a personal story explaining her own commitment to this cause.
Day 8 – The role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
- Euvin Naidoo on investing in Africa | Video on TED.com – South African investment banker Euvin Naidoo explains why investing in Africa can make great business sense.
- Jacqueline Novogratz invests in Africa’s own solutions | Video on TED.com – Jacqueline Novogratz applauds the world’s heightened interest in Africa and poverty, but argues persuasively for a new approach.
Days 9 and 10 – Conclusions and Data Response Question practice