MIT Sloan Experts | Argentina's inflation rate deception

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:13:27 GMT

Alberto Cavallo, the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Assistant Professor
of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management, discusses how Argentina has lied about its inflation rate.

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 22: Entrepreneurs and Workers

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:37 GMT

Description: This lecture talks about the relationship between the poor and entrepreneurship. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 24: Policies, Politics: Can Evidence Play a Role in the Fight Against Poverty?

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:37 GMT

Description: This lecture discusses theories and policies developed to help fight poverty. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 25: Policies, Politics: Can Evidence Play a Role in the Fight Against Poverty?, cont.

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:37 GMT

Description: This lecture discusses the impact of political economics on the world's poor. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 26: Five Thoughts in Place of a Sweeping Conclusion

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:37 GMT

Description: The professor provides some final thoughts to conclude the course on the challenges of world poverty. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 15: Risk and Insurance

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:36 GMT

This lecture discusses the ways in which risk is costly to the poor and if insurance is beneficial to this population. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 16: Insurance

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:36 GMT

This lecture covers risk and insurance for the world's poor. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 17: The (Not So Simple) Economics of Lending to the Poor

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:36 GMT

Description: This lecture covers credit and lending to the world's poor. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 19: The Promise and Perils of Microfinance

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:36 GMT

Description: This lecture discusses the topic of pros and cons of microfinance for the poor. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 11: Education: The Man Made Trap

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:35 GMT

This lecture discusses the perceived returns of education and highlights various studies done on the subject. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 2: What is a Poverty Trap?

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:35 GMT

Lecture 2 provides an introduction to the idea of poverty traps. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 3: Social Experiments: Why and How?

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:35 GMT

In this lecture, Esther Duflo talks about social experiments done to understand what interventions work best to mitigate world poverty. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 5: Is There a Nutrition-Based Poverty Trap?

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:35 GMT

In this lecture, Esther Duflo covers malnutriton and the nutrition-based poverty trap, including the relationship between productivity and nutrition. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 6: Nutrition: The Hidden Traps

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:08:32 GMT

Description: In this lecture, Esther Duflo discusses nutrition as a hidden trap. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 13: How Do Families Decide?

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:58 GMT

This lecture continues the discussion from lecture 12, and also includes material on how families make decisions about family planning. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 14: Gender Discrimination

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:58 GMT

This lecture covers gender discrimination and uneven gender ratios in various countries, including India. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 21: Savings 2

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:58 GMT

Description: This lecture covers experiments conducted to understand savings and borrowing in Kenya and the Phillippines. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 1: Introduction

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:57 GMT

Lecture 1 provides an introduction to the study of global poverty. The class discusses the challenges of world poverty. Instructor: Abhijit Banerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 8: Health: Low Hanging Fruit?

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:57 GMT

This lecture discusses some of the most effective and cheapest ways to promote good health, such as bednets, immunization and breast feeding. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 20: Savings

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:52 GMT

This lecture covers the realities of saving and borrowing for the world's poor. Instructor: Abhijit Bannerjee

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 10: Is It Possible to Deliver Quality Education to the Poor-The Pratham-JPAL Partnership

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:51 GMT

This lecture discusses various experiments and interventions in education, specifically in India. The work of the organization, Pratham, is also covered. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 12: (Somewhat) Un-Orthodox Findings on the Family

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:51 GMT

This lecture discusses what drives fertitlity decisions. Topics include family planning, population growth, quality-quantity trade off, and China's one-child policy, among other topics. Instructor: Esther Duflo

The Challenge of World Poverty - Lecture 9: Education: Setting the Stage

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:07:51 GMT

This lecture covers the themes portrayed in the film "Educating Yaparak" and examines education through the lens of economics. Instructor: Esther Duflo

Self-taught Sierra Leonean teen visits MIT

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:18:27 GMT

Meet Kelvin Doe. A 15-year-old with no formal engineering training, Doe has built batteries and generators using trashed scrap metal and wiring.

Research & Policy Design: Part X

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 08:06:57 GMT

Research and Policy Design: The First J-PAL Bihar Development Conference

Session III: Voters' Campaigns. Rohini Pande (Professor of Economics, Harvard University) talks about the challenges citizens still face in accessing information about candidate qualifications and the effect of report cards.

Research & Policy Design: Part XI

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:30:13 GMT

Research and Policy Design: The First J-PAL Bihar Development Conference

Session III: Voters' Campaigns. Anjali Bhardwaj (Founding Member and Director, Satark Nagrik Sangathan, Delhi) continues the discussion about the challenges citizens still face in accessing information about candidate qualifications and the effect of report cards.

Research & Policy Design: Part V - The First J-PAL Bihar Development Conference

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:30:09 GMT

Research and Policy Design: The First J-PAL Bihar Development Conference

Session II: Deworming. In Part V, Karthik Muralidharan (Assistant Professor of Economics, UC San Diego) speaks on the topic of randomized control trials and impact evaluation in the very succesful deworming program.

Read more about Research & Policy Design – The First Bihar Development Conference: http://www.povertyactionlab.org/south-asia/bihar-conference

Without a Home

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 07:03:00 GMT

Due in part to the poor state of the economy, the number of homeless has been on the rise. This is part of the story of just a few of those in Central Square, Cambridge.

An Interview with Professor Xav Briggs

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:03:12 GMT

Professor Xav Briggs talks about his time in Washington, D.C., working in the Obama Administration.

Bill Gates - Bright minds and big problems

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:17:47 GMT

Bill Gates, philanthropist and retired co-founder of Microsoft Corp., urged MIT students on April 21, 2010 to focus their talent and energy on tackling the world's biggest challenges, including global health, poverty and education.

Esther Duflo on "Rethinking Poverty" Part 2

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:13:31 GMT

Esther Duflo on "Rethinking Poverty" Part 1

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:36:41 GMT

Promoting Inclusion

Tue, 17 May 2011 22:44:05 GMT

Aryeh Neier spoke to the MIT community about the worldwide work of the Open Society Foundations to secure education, health and justice for marginalized people. Aryeh Neier is president of the Open Society Foundations. Prior to joining the Open Society Institute in 1993, he served for 12 years as executive director of Human Rights Watch, of which he was a founder in 1978. Before that, he worked 15 years at the American Civil Liberties Union, including eight years as national executive director. He served as an adjunct professor of law at New York University for more than a dozen years. Neier is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, and has published in periodicals such as the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, and Foreign Policy. For a dozen years he wrote a column on human rights for The Nation. He has contributed more than a 150 op-ed articles in newspapers including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the International Herald Tribune. Author of six books, including his most recent, Taking Liberties (2003), Neier has also contributed chapters to more than 20 books. He has lectured at many of the country's leading universities. He is the recipient of six honorary degrees and the American Bar Association's Gavel Award and the International Bar Association's Rule of Law Award.

A Conversation on Leadership

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

03/03/2011 12:00 PM Wong AuditoriumUrsula M. Burns, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Xerox Corporation Description: Her "journey to the top" is one that "could only happen in the United States of America," says Ursula Burns, describing her rise from New York City projects to the apex of corporate leadership at Xerox. For an eager audience of management students, Burns also highlights lessons from her early years and 30"year career. Burns' mother, a single parent who raised three children in the Lower East Side on a meager cleaner's salary, taught her that "where you are is not who you are." She also forcefully conveyed the importance of a good education. So Burns leveraged her Catholic school education into first a college degree, then a career in mechanical engineering (after a mistaken detour into chemical engineering.) When Burns first joined Xerox as an engineer in 1980, there were virtually no women in the company in her field, and few black women anywhere. Burns thought she would stay only a few years. Instead, she remained for decades, due in large part to the growth she found possible at the corporation: "They said, 'We hired you because we think you're smart, and if you work hard, we'll give you lots of opportunity.' And they never went back on their commitments." Along the way, Burns learned a few things, such as not looking for a promotion until "you've figured out a way to transform the current work," and the importance of "loving change, and thinking hard before turning down a job, especially from someone senior to you." She also figured out, "If you think you have to trade off who you are to make it, then you are going to fail." At Xerox, she was valuable to the organization precisely because of her differences, she says. "It's interesting how uniqueness is more of a significant advantage; it got me seen." To be an effective leader, she advises, you must determine "your space" in the firm; develop real listening abilities; have a clear vision and take risks. Burns is a big believer in setting objectives and standards for performance. She worries that these days "we're in the mode of making everyone feel better, loving each other, to the detriment of people focusing, trying hard and differentiating the great from not so good." One last thing, she counsels: Don't get distracted by how much money a position might make. "The measure of money is least important over the long term. There is a point where there is too much, and you'll know when you are there. Unfortunately, if you get to that point, you may have lost too much of the fun, joy and wonder enjoying the situation you're in, trying to have people around you be better, in pursuit of making more money." About the Speaker(s): Ursula Burns joined Xerox in 1980 as a mechanical engineering summer intern and later assumed roles in product development and planning. From 1992 through 2000, Burns led several business teams including the office color and fax business and office network printing business. In 2000, she was named senior vice president, corporate strategic services, heading up manufacturing and supply chain operations. She then took on the broader role of leading Xerox's global research as well as product development, marketing and delivery. In April 2007, Burns was named president of Xerox, expanding her leadership to also include the company's IT organization, corporate strategy, human resources, corporate marketing and global accounts. At that time, she was also elected a member of the company's Board of Directors. Burns was named chief executive officer in July 2009 and assumed the role of chairman of the company on May 20, 2010. In addition to the Xerox board, she is a member of the MIT Corporation, and on the MIT libraries' visiting committee. Burns serves as a board director of the American Express Corporation and provides leadership counsel to community, educational and non"profit organizations including FIRST " (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), National Academy Foundation, University of Rochester, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, among others. Burns was named by President Barack Obama to help lead the White House national program on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in November 2009 and was appointed vice chair of the President's Export Council in March 2010. Burns earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of NYU and an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Columbia University.Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

The Evolution of Economic Science: Macroeconomics, Growth, and Development

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

01/27/2011 10:45 AM KresgeDaron Acemoglu, James Killian Professor of Economics, MIT; Peter Diamond, PhD '63, MIT Institute Professor; Esther Duflo, PhD '99, Abdul Latif Jameel Prof of Poverty Allev & Develop Department of Economics; Robert Hall, PhD '67, Robert and Carole McNeil Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Robert M. Solow, MIT Institute Professor, Emeritus 1987 Nobel Laureate in EconomicsDescription: This panel first looks inward, at the evolution of macroeconomics in the past century, and the emergence of microeconomic foundations in macroeconomics, then shifts outward, to the application of economic analysis to such issues as structural unemployment, the ongoing U.S. recession, and the best ways to help developing nations. When he took his first economics course in 1940, Robert Solow tells us, "There was no such thing as macroeconomics." The general framework for discussing large"scale fluctuations in economies , "born in Keynes' general theory in 1936," took a while to evolve. Keynes, says Solow, wanted a "macroeconomics that would keep closely in touch with data and with actual events." From the 1950s through the 1970s, macroeconomics "was all Keynesian," but there was "lots of room for ideology to be dragged in." A sea change occurred in the late '70s, driven by stagflation. Macroeconomists could not explain the phenomenon, providing an opening "for opponents of this way of doing macroeconomics." After the '70s, "paying close attention to events got to be a bad thing," says Solow. Some economists declared it was time to erase the distinction between macro and microeconomics, but says Solow, "You can't answer the questions macro has asked by modeling whole economies as the interaction of tens of millions of households, firms and products It's like trying to design an airplane molecule by molecule." Peter Diamond was part of a generation of researchers in the 1960s who hoped to construct a micro foundation to macroeconomics. In particular, he worked to incorporate into the basic general equilibrium model two Keynesian ideas that didn't fit so comfortably: the significance of current income, and "the stickiness of wages." Economists explored how the labor market functioned in the economy, and learned to model vast flows of workers moving in and out of employment. Analyzing such flows helps inform policy discussions about unemployment insurance, says Diamond. While these approaches have been incorporated into "otherwise conventional macro models," he looks forward to "a big expansion of range of micro foundation models that will be consistent with the general equilibrium views of thinking about the whole economy, and Keynesian views that we get events that really affect things." Robert Hall defends economists attacked for not predicting "the big slump." Says Hall, "We did a lot of research that turned out to be highly material." He boils down the financial crisis to such factors as deregulation of financial institutions, a massive build"up of consumer debt and the overshooting of housing prices. Financial fallout from the 2008 crisis continues today: credit card interest rates remain high, and available credit is extremely restricted, impeding recovery. The Federal Reserve's hands are tied, because it can't lower interest rates anymore; "the normal equilibrium process of the economy fails in a situation like this," says Hall. Paradoxically, a little inflation would be good, because it might "get people to perceive that now is a great time to buy stuff instead of later." Over the next four years, Hall believes unemployment will get back to normal, and households will work down accumulated debt. He frets that current legislation has "only scratched the surface" of correcting the regulatory lapses that triggered the crisis. Says Hall, "We need robust financial institutions with lots of capital." For years, people have debated the effectiveness of aid to developing nations. Development economics is trying "to move away from big questionsto smaller questions for which we might possibly have the answer," says Esther Duflo. She studies the economics of public health aid in poor countries, where diseases like malaria are responsible for millions of deaths. Even where the benefits of aid are clear, there are still "heated arguments, ideology and passion." Studies by Duflo and her colleagues have largely quieted concerns that people offered free health services such as bed nets for malaria, or immunizations, decline them, or after receiving them, refuse to purchase subsidized healthcare in the future. This research is changing policies: Kenya has begun distributing bed nets for free, for instance. Small investments in health pay large dividends. Duflo cites a study that school children who are de"wormed for a year longer than their peers earn 20% more each year when they are adults. "A patient step"by"step approach is a productive way of trying to understand how the poor behave and how we can possibly help them get out of poverty traps." About the Speaker(s): Daron Acemoglu studies political economy, economic development and growth, technology, income and wage inequality, human capital and training and labor economics, among other fields. He has taught economics at MIT since 1993. Previously, Acemoglu was a lecturer in economics at the London School of Economics, where he also received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. Acemoglu is a fellow of the Society of Labor Economists, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the Econometric Society and a fellow of the European Economic Association. He is the author of Introduction to Modern Economic Growth.Host(s): Office of the President, MIT150 Inventional Wisdom

Rebuilding Haiti

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

10/29/2010 4:00 PM 34"101Paul Farmer, Founder, Partners in HealthDescription: Difficult as it is to look beyond the acute misery of Haiti's current crisis, Paul Farmer proposes that aid agencies and others concerned with rebuilding focus on the nation's "old, chronic problems." There's no shortage of recovery ideas, he says, but these will go nowhere if they do not also advance the long"neglected, basic rights of Haitians. Farmer describes efforts to respond to Haiti's disastrous earthquake of January 2010, which killed hundreds of thousands, left 1.3 million homeless and much of the capital in ruins. Today, nearly a year later, the generous pledges of international aid have yet to materialize, says Farmer, and the peril has expanded to include a cholera outbreak. This picture is all the bleaker for the deaths of many of Farmer's collaborators. The earthquake destroyed invaluable "human infrastructure", says Farmer, including all the nursing students at Haiti's one public nursing school. Farmer has been working in Haiti for more than a decade, attempting to address not just malnutrition, HIV and tuberculosis, but larger issues such as Haitians' lack of access to clean water, public education and healthcare. He would like to see international aid groups and foreign powers involved with Haiti recognize these issues in a meaningful way. Farmer's long"standing strategy has been to engage Haiti's public sector, or what remains after years of military and U.S. proxy rule, in the fight for these rights. He says, "There is always a role for the promotion of basic rightsThe question is how to do this in the field, not just win an argument in seminar." The earthquake has profoundly deepened Haiti's need for essential public institutions. The 1,000"plus tent cities housing more than a million people in Port au Prince are swelling, not diminishing, because people cannot find potable water anywhere else, and most have no idea where their next meal will come from. Yet there is a push to expel people from their tents and tarps, says Farmer, as if that will somehow speed construction of more permanent residences. Many plans are afoot for such housing, he says -- but few that take into account the desires of Haitians, who should have agency in shaping their own future. Rebuilding Haiti, Farmer believes, means "rebuilding aid machinery which is very broken, and often a damaging thing." He is forging new alliances among Haitians and other aid partners, including Cubans and evangelical groups from the U.S., around water projects, and a new hospital that will be "big, green and public." Says Farmer, "We must make common cause with those seeking to provide basic rights." About the Speaker(s): Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer is a founding director of Partners In Health, an international charity organization that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. He is medical director of a charity hospital, the Clinique Bon Sauveur, in rural Haiti and he is also the UN Deputy Special Envoy to for Haiti, under Special Envoy Bill Clinton. Farmer has written extensively about health and human rights, and about the role of social inequalities in the distribution and outcome of infectious diseases. He is the author of Pathologies of Power (University of California Press, 2003); Infections and Inequalities (University of California Press, 1998); The Uses of Haiti (Common Courage Press, 1994); and AIDS and Accusation (University of California Press, 1992). In addition, he is co"editor of Women, Poverty, and AIDS, (Common Courage Press, 1996) and of The Global Impact of Drug"Resistant Tuberculosis (Harvard Medical School and Open Society Institute, 1999). Farmer is the recipient of the Duke University Humanitarian Award, the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association, the American Medical Association's Outstanding International Physician (Nathan Davis) Award, and the Heinz Humanitarian Award. In 1993, he was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in recognition of his work. Farmer is the subject of Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House, 2003). Farmer received his Bachelor's degree from Duke University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Program in Science, Technology and Society

Peace Meals

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

10/19/2010 4:30 PM 66"110Anna Badkhen, Author, "Peace Meals"; Fotini Christia, Assistant Professor in Political ScienceDescription: While breaking bread around the world with friends and families suffering through war and deprivation, Anna Badkhen managed to compile not just a vivid chronicle of lives under duress, but a cookbook. In this dialogue with MIT political scientist Fotini Christia, Badkhen describes her new work, Peace Meals: Candy"Wrapped Kalashnikovs and Other War Stories< /i>, in which by some Proustian process frontline reporting melds with tasty recipes. Conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East or Africa seem remote to most Americans, seen mainly through the lens of a news camera. In contrast, Badkhen takes "a quiet, intimate long look" into the living rooms of people under constant threat of violence and destitution. Her persistence over 10 years of reporting has won her friends in dangerous and ravaged lands. Peace Meals arose from a series of food"based, extended conversations about survival with her most memorable acquaintances. Says Badkhen, "All that is holding us together are stories. And (my subjects) tell stories from their dinner tables." In her book, Badkhen mingles description of food preparation and consumption with a chronicle of conversation, and provides as well a complex stew of culture, history and politics that is a necessary part of each survivor's story. No matter how extreme her subjects' circumstances, "the more stripped down the house or kitchen, the more the emptiness was filled with extraordinary humanity and generosity." For her, each recipe or meal evokes a unique encounter and acquaintance. Dolma (stuffed grape leaves) calls up her Iraqi reporter friend and his family, who cooked with her in 2003 "while U.S. planes were bombing their hometown." A hearty borscht summons the evening in 2002 when Russian authorities invaded a Moscow theater held by Chechen terrorists, leading to the death of 129 people. For Russians, this beet soup is "the ultimate comfort food, like donuts," says Badkhen. Her friends "went for the borscht" because it was "hot, and protects you from the physical cold of living in a country that doesn't care." An American Army commander in Iraq shared his barracks meal: a burger, corn dog, French fries and Jell"O. "He ate the same meal every day," Badkhen says, regardless of whatever else was in the menu. "He felt each meal might be his last If the day ends, and he is still alive, there will be the corn dog which will remind him of home." About the Speaker(s): Anna Badkhen has covered wars in Afghanistan, Somalia, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Chechnya and Kashmir. She has reported extensively from Iraq since 2003. Her reporting has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The National, FRONTLINE/World, Truthdig, and Salon. Her wartime journalism won the 2007 Joel R. Seldin Award for reporting on civilians in war zones.Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Center for International Studies

Planning the Response: Establishing the Impacts and Identifying the Parties at Risk

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:00:00 GMT

09/28/2010 3:00 PM E14"674Amy Glasmeier, Department Head, Professor of Geography and Regional Planning, DUSP; Wyman Briggs, Preparedness Specialist, US Coast Guard; Earthea Nance, Assistant Professor, Department of Urban Studies, University of New Orleans) ; James Thu (Dien) Bui, Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development CorporationDescription: The Deepwater Horizon disaster spread through not just a vast coastal ecosystem, but into diverse human communities lining the Gulf, many entirely dependent on the sea for their livelihoods. These three panelists describe their involvement in quite disparate response projects, which began shortly after the oil began gushing, and in some areas, continue today. Working for the federal government, Wyman Briggs observed firsthand the massive resources brought to bear on the 4.9 million barrel spill: 48 thousand responders from 500 agencies and 20 different countries working at the peak of the emergency; 870 miles of boom and hundreds of skimming vessels deployed; 411 controlled burns of oil, and 770 thousand gallons of dispersant deposited. In spite of this armada reining in and attacking the mess, the technology (much of it unimproved in decades) left 26% of the oil unaccounted for. Scientists believe it is traveling in a "significant plume" deep in Gulf waters, says Briggs. And armies of people are still "working in marshes and walking the beaches" scooping up tarballs, sampling water, studying the effectiveness of dispersants and burning, and mapping out restoration and remediation The spill made one thing clear, says Earthea Nance: the "relationship between economic development decisions and the impact on the environment." She frames this disaster in terms of "shrimp vs. petroleum," and as "the latest in a cumulative series of cascading disasters" for coastal communities rocked hard by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and the 'great recession.' Nance organized hearings where economically struggling residents voiced great concern about the "loss of a way of life and culture, which is based on the environment." They also worried that their air, water and soil are contaminated. Nance brought groups from Alaska affected by the Exxon Valdez spill to talk about their multi"decade trauma with legal claims, and the demise of fisheries. Gulf communities, she says, want to be more involved in monitoring the impacts to their environment. There is a major opportunity here, Nance believes, to train the long"term unemployed for new, green jobs. When the BP rig blew, the timing could not have been worse for the 4,500 Vietnamese "Americans plying Gulf waters for shrimp, says James Dien Bui. Katrina left these seasonal workers saddled with debt, and the loss of another income"producing spring proved devastating to these family businesses. Bui led hundreds of focus groups from Alabama to Louisiana to discuss the challenges of Vietnamese" American communities, and found them craving "access to accurate and timely information," in language and forms they could understand. Some of these people are victimized by "predatory lawyers" offering instant cash for entering class action suits. Most of all, they want their jobs back. Bui is focusing on two priorities: helping residents with disaster claims; and creating "one"stop business centers" for job training and placement in such sustainable projects as an aquaculture park. One recent success: catering locally sourced food to create healthy meals in a New Orleans charter school. About the Speaker(s): Amy Glasmeier was previously on the faculty at Penn State and the University of Texas at Austin, and was the John Whisman Scholar of the Appalachian Regional Commission. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Planning from Sonoma State University and an M..A and Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. Her publications consist of more than 50 scholarly articles and several books, including Manufacturing Time: Global Competition in the World Watch Industry, 1795"2000 (Guilford Press, 2000); and From Combines to Computers: Rural Services and Development in the Age of Information Technology with Marie Howland (SUNY Press, 1995). Her most recent book,An Atlas of Poverty in America: One Nation, Pulling Apart 1960"2003 (Routledge Press, 2005), examines the experience of people and places in poverty since the 1960s, looks across the last four decades at poverty in America and recounts the history of poverty policy since the 1940s.Host(s): School of Science, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

Reclaiming the Moral Life of Philanthropy

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:00:00 GMT

09/27/2010 4:30 PM e14"633Gara LaMarche, President and CEO, The Atlantic PhilanthropiesDescription: Gara LaMarche believes the nation's charitable organizations have lost "moral clarity," growing more concerned with "the fix, the intervention, than about reasons for doing or caring about what is right." After many decades laboring in large, private foundations, LaMarche has an intimate perspective on this drift in philanthropic mission and practice. He draws several telling examples from his own experience. As head of the Texas Civil Liberties Union in the mid"1980s, LaMarche failed to sway diehard capital punishment legislators with the "traditional ACLU rights talk," which was viewed either as starry"eyed idealism or dangerous radicalism. He took a radically different tack, and "argued in pragmatic practical terms" that the state couldn't afford to imprison so many, and that depriving prisoners of educational opportunities merely forced released inmates back to crime. This argument prevailed briefly, during a tough fiscal climate, but when the state was flush, it invested in more prisons. The result: Texas today holds four times as many prisoners as it did 20 years ago. LaMarche says "Pragmatic terms didn't work." His Atlantic Philanthropies poured millions into comprehensive health reform legislation, which resulted in the "most significant advance for the social safety net in over 40 years." Yet the law yielded no political benefits, says LaMarche, because the administration "erred in framing the healthcare campaign largely around costs, not around morality and justice." As a result, there is no match for the backlash -- "ferocious passion" around the issue of governmental and fiscal overreach. LaMarche also cites immigration reform as a case where philanthropy could have spurred action based on the "scope of injustice," but instead relied on political tactics, such as splitting conservatives, and "fixing a broken system." Technocracy, he says, "is no match for the virulent passion of the other side." Philanthropies have become sidetracked by public opinion and establishing metrics for their performance. They retreat to safe positions, and "erode what moral authority they have" by protecting their own self"interest, especially around tax distinctions. LaMarche says it is possible to strike a balance between the goals of effective philanthropy, and tackling social inequities and large, complex problems such as climate change. This means speaking out in the current "toxic political environment" with a coherent world view about "what is right," while not getting lost in polling and problem"solving, which risks "losing what gains we've made because the story of which those are part has no moral." About the Speaker(s): Gara LaMarche leads The Atlantic Philanthropies, an international grantmaking foundation dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people. Atlantic focuses on four critical social challenges: Ageing, Children & Youth, Population Health, and Reconciliation & Human Rights. LaMarche joined Atlantic in April 2007 to lead the organization through its final chapter as the foundation plans to disburse its remaining endowment and complete active grantmaking by 2016. Before joining Atlantic, LaMarche served as Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Institute, established by George Soros. Earlier, he was Associate Director of Human Rights Watch, and served in a variety of positions with the American Civil Liberties Union. LaMarche has written numerous articles on human rights and social justice issues for major national publications, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. He serves on the boards of StoryCorps, The White House Project, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and the Leadership Council of Hispanics in Philanthropy.Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Center for International Studies

The Interaction Between Poverty, Growth and Democracy

Mon, 03 May 2010 04:00:00 GMT

05/03/2010 12:00 PM Wong AuditoriumPresident Alejandro Toledo, President of Peru 2001"2006Description: Alejandro Toledo has remained a passionate advocate of reform since departing the presidency of Peru in 2006. In his home country, he embodied the possibility of transformation, having risen from poverty in an Andean village to top political power, where he initiated a process of economic and social change for Peru. Now he serves as a kind of roving ambassador on behalf of the most deprived populations in Latin America. Toledo is advancing a particular initiative, the "Social Agenda for Democracy in Latin America," which asserts an inextricable link between effective, inclusive political institutions, and economic justice. "If we're not able to reduce high levels of poverty, inequality and social exclusion, then poverty can conspire against democracy," says Toledo. Natural resources are not a solution, but actually a burden, he believes. Many nations rich in mineral or agricultural wealth, including Peru, have very low standards of living. Inequitable foreign exchange and trade, buttressed by corrupt leaders, often robs these nations of their treasure, and of any chance for investing in development at home. The poor remain poor and, with no way of achieving a decent income or meeting their basic needs, hopeless. They "lose faith in democracy," says Toledo. The path out of poverty and corruption represents an opportunity and challenge for Latin America, says Toledo. Citizens must demand that their institutions be accountable, and political leaders must provide a plan for economic development that incorporates "explicit social policies that go beyond trickle down." Topping Toledo's agenda is quality education. Investing in the minds of people is a long"term proposition, acknowledges Toledo, and many politicians "don't have the patience, when they know the return will take 18 to 20 years before the kid turns out to be an engineer." But only education can "bring a family, a region, a nation, into a world of opportunity." Educated populations create citizens "with a sense of solidarity," who can work their way out of indigence and engage meaningfully in a democracy. Toledo also wants sustainable development in Latin America, so future generations can enjoy clean water and healthy forests. He is a fan of microfinance as well: "You give me $1 to invest in a poor woman ... and we begin changing the face of the world." He encourages fellow Latin Americans in the audience to return: "Latin America is a promising continent, but ... it will only play a crucial role in the world economy and democracy if you are there." About the Speaker(s): Alejandro Toledo was born in a remote village in the Peruvian Andes, one of 16 brothers and sisters from a family of extreme poverty. At the age of six, he worked as a shoe shiner and sold newspapers. By chance, he had access to a decent education, and went on to earn a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration from the University of San Francisco, and two masters degrees and a Ph.D. in the Economics of Human Resources, all from Stanford University. He worked as the Director of Peru's Economic Development Institute, and in positions at the World Bank, the Inter"American Development Bank in Washington, and the United Nations in New York before running for president of Peru. After his presidential term, Toledo left Peru and served as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University from 2006 to 2008. During this period, he was also a Payne Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a CDDRL (Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law) Visiting Scholar. More recently, Toledo was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., and also a Non"Resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution < br> Toledo founded and continues to serve as the President of the Global Center for Development and Democracy, which is based in Latin America, the United States, and the European Union. Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship

Giving Back: Finding the Best Way to Make a Difference

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:00:00 GMT

The world's most intractable problems might be cracked if more of our "brightest minds" could be tempted to work on them, asserts Bill Gates.

Sustainable Accessibility: A Grand Challenge for the World and for MIT

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

02/09/2010 4:00 PM 3"270John Sterman, PhD '82, Forrester Professor of Management and Engineering Systems, and; Director, System Dynamics Group, MIT Description: Transportation systems, as we know them today, will simply not sustain the worlds' growing population. Imagine a projected population of nine billion individuals. If this future population had mobility patterns like drivers in the United States, there would be a staggering 7.6 billion motor vehicles, using 440 million barrels of oil and producing 62 billion tons of CO2 per year. John Sterman says it is self"evident that our current transportation model simply will not scale. But, since the gross world product (GWP) is growing at 3.2% annually, and doubles every twenty years, our current model of development is an overture for environmental disaster. It is clear to Sterman that we need to think differently about the problem. People need access to goods, services, people, and opportunities. This access is what traditional forms of transportation provide. We also need to see transportation in its complexity, and expect that our planning efforts will have totally unintended, unexpected "rebound" effects. Sterman provides two examples of these rebound effects. The first examines the relationship between reducing traffic congestion and mass transit. Traditionally, the solution to traffic congestion has been one of supply and demand, and new roads are built to accommodate the increase in vehicle traffic. But, notes Sterman, augmenting road capacity just does not work: When new capacity is added, new vehicle trips, or longer ones, are encouraged. These trips quickly fill up the new road capacity, which produces a spiral of more severe traffic congestion. Meanwhile, some portion of these new auto trips come at the expense of public transit, which, upon losing riders, then reacts by either cutting service, or increasing fares. This downward spiral of public transit has a feedback loop which increases the attractiveness of driving. Sterman observes that planning is chaotic if we don't pay attention to these feedback loops and really think through what it is people want to achieve. A different, but equally complex set of feedback loops, has been the undoing of the alternative fuels industry. Over a thirty"year horizon, three countries, namely Brazil, New Zealand, and Argentina each developed a national policy and provided incentives to reduce their dependence on foreign oil. Unfortunately, none of their fuel programs grew large enough to achieve sufficient scale economies. Sterman characterizes these new starts as "sizzle and fizzle". He cautions us from repeating their mistakes as a current initiative gets underway to develop a hydrogen vehicle and fueling network in California. Having volume and scale will help us go down the learning curve, and we also need to bring many groups into the problem solving" these include vehicle manufacturers, fuel retailers, suppliers, and consumers. But, technology alone will not solve the problem. Sterman says we should prepare for the counter"intuitive lessons of transportation, and recognize that we will achieve better results if we make driving less attractive. Host(s): School of Engineering, Transportation@MIT

Deploying Our Gifts for the Betterment of Humankind: What Would Dr. King Say about Us?

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

02/04/2010 7:30 AM Walker Morss HallGerry Hudson, Executive Vice President of SEIU "Service Employees International Union; Dr. Susan Hockfield, President, MITDescription: Woven into the fabric of MIT life, says Susan Hockfield, is the "perpetual striving to be ever better." To this end, Hockfield has been laboring to create a "true culture of inclusion." Hockfield now has a tool to aid her efforts: a report on MIT faculty race and diversity -- the result of 2 _ years of study. It documents the sometimes painful experience of MIT faculty members of underrepresented groups, but also provides practical steps for ameliorating the situation. Strong mentoring of junior faculty is a starting place, so new hires don't immediately begin struggling in "a sink or swim environment," which is "terribly wasteful and harmful to morale." Hockfield hopes the report will spur a more open discussion of race at MIT. Ultimately, she'd like to reinforce the idea that strengthening MIT's diversity is "pivotal to helping us magnify and deploy our shared gifts for mankind." Gerry Hudson has long dedicated himself to the cause of organized labor, such as nursing home employees like his own mother. His vision was shaped in large part by what he calls "the real King message," exemplified in a speech given to the AFL"CIO in 1961. In this address, entitled "When the Negro Wins, Labor Wins," King made clear his battle was not merely against white supremacy and racism in America, but against poverty as well. "The achievement of civil rights," says Hudson, "was merely a means to building the right kind of movement," aimed at securing a "just society free of war and poverty." While King implored the AFL"CIO to join with him "in creating a coalition of conscience," labor leaders of the day turned a cold shoulder. So "the Negro was asked to go off and fight Jim Crow" without labor's support, says Hudson. This marked a momentous failure for progressive politics, he believes -- an abortive attempt to ally the civil rights movement to the cause of labor and economic justice. This failure was soon followed by the rise of the Dixiecrats and George Wallace, the loss of Democrats in northern states, and ultimately "the long nightmare of American politics that has swept the country for more than 40 years." The labor movement has also gone into decline, and "if trends continue, there will be no labor unions in 20 years in this country." Not coincidentally, wealth has become increasingly concentrated, and there is an "outrageous inequality" in society now. Hudson found solace in Barack Obama's election, and his embrace of King's message of a broad politics of hope. It was "a remarkable passing of the baton." Yet, a year after that election, Hudson still looks for the promised changes in health care, labor reform, and green jobs. He finally believes that the creation of a more just America, "in which wealth is more equitably distributed, in which every child, no matter who or where they are in this country, can flourish," will not happen unless all his listeners put their "gifts on the table." About the Speaker(s): Gerry Hudson leads the SEIU's long"term care work division, focusing on building a voice for the union's 580,000 long term care members. He is also concerned with issues of environmental justice, particularly the disproportionate impacts of environmental degradation on low"income and minority communities. He led the first"ever U.S. labor delegation to the United Nations' climate change meeting in Bali in 2007. Before Hudson came to SEIU in 1978, he worked at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, NY. He was elected executive vice president for District 1199 New York, and coordinated this group's incorporation into SEIU. Hudson has also served as political director of the New York State Democratic Party, and led the union's campaigns in support of Jesse Jackson's presidential efforts in New York.Host(s): Office of the President, MIT Annual Breakfast Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Entrepreneurship, Government, and Development in Africa

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

09/21/2009 4:00 PM 34"101President John Kufuor, President of Ghana 2001"2009Description: After centuries of insufferable oppression by colonial powers, bloody independence struggles, and corrupt home"grown regimes, "Africa today is quickly awakening, and determined to mainstream itself in the phenomenon of the globalization process," says John Kufuor, who served as Ghana's president for two terms starting in 2000. Kufuor recounts how Ghana transcended its dark history to attain astonishing political and economic progress, establishing the nation as an exemplar for fellow African states. In a brisk history lesson, Kufuor accounts for the lag between Africa and other continents in socioeconomic development: geography kept Africa outside ancient trading routes, and when "marauding" Europeans eventually encountered Africa, it was "more or less a one"sided, institutional gang rape..." Denied citizenship and rights, for 600 years "the African ego and personality was assailed and trampled upon." Following World War 2, colonial powers relinquished their African holdings, but successor native governments were often little better, says Kufuor, spouting revolutionary rhetoric, and stifling "visionary individualism and creativity." State control meant "private capital formation went underground." African rulers maintained attachments to their "former European overlords," who imported Africa's resources "raw on concessionary terms." Kufuor blames the "stinginess" of foreign entrepreneurs, their unwillingness to "add value" to these products, for African nations' current paucity of medium and large"scale business. But Ghana's trick was to transform this disadvantage -- a large pool of small, agriculturally based businesses -- into the centerpiece of an economic revival. Kufuor cites in particular cocoa farmers, responsible for one of Ghana's principal exports, who own on average no more than three acres. When he arrived in office, Kufuor determined to support the "self"reliant, risk"taking initiative" of such farmers and other small"scale businesses, recognizing that they were key to "unleashing the potential wealth of the nation." His government pursued debt forgiveness by the IMF; separating the central bank from the president's office; and distributing more banking licenses and lowering lending rates. Aid to farmers with trading, modernization, irrigation, and other infrastructure led to unprecedented economic growth: the GDP quadrupled over an eight year period beginning in 2000, with growth at 7.3% last year. Government "had promised to usher the country into a golden age," says Kufuor, and came through not just with economic policies, but with investment in education and a national health insurance plan for all citizens. Two years ago, oil was discovered offshore, and Kufuor, "proud of having laid a solid foundation" for Ghana, prays that this find will prove "a blessing and not a curse, for the good of all our sons and daughters." About the Speaker(s): John Kufuor helped lead Ghana during its first peaceful democratic transition, focusing on modernizing agriculture, improving infrastructure and attracting direct foreign investment. Kufuor championed the nation's entrepreneurs, and promoted transparency in government. He is also a former chairperson of the African Union (2007"2008). In 2008, Kufuor became a partner in the World Food Programme's "Fill the Cup" drive to provide nutritious school meals to millions of hungry children. "Every nation's future rests on nutritious food and education for its children," he said. Kufuor earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Oxford University before becoming a lawyer. But he soon turned to politics, serving as member of parliament, deputy foreign minister and secretary for local government before becoming Ghana's president in 2000.Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship

Toward India 2020: Challenges and Opportunities

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

09/09/2009 11:00 AM Bartos theaterDr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Indian Planning CommissionDescription: People sometimes ask Montek Singh Ahluwalia questions loaded with "aspirational objectives," such as when India will "get rid of poverty." Few are as well equipped to respond as Ahluwalia, one of the architects of India's breathtaking economic transformation. The current income of an average Indian citizen is about 1/15th that of a U.S. citizen. Ahluwalia envisions increasing India's per capita income ten fold. He sees this as a matter of "simple arithmetic." To achieve this advance, India must sustain GDP growth of 9% a year (which corresponds to a 7%/year growth in personal income) -- for 32 years. By 2040, India's 1.5 billion people could be living more like Americans. "Regrettably, I won't be around to see it," says Ahluwalia. By 2020, though, assuming such sustained economic growth, he would be around to witness "more modest results." Indians would double their annual income to $6,600, and the nation would be able to "provide a basic level of services to the vast majority of its population," essentially leaving behind its problems of poverty. This kind of growth, "an extremely worthwhile objective" for India, would also leave its mark on the rest of the world. It would inspire other emerging economies, for one thing. It would also shift the balance of power in global trade, with the combined economies of India and China taking on the U.S. So can India really achieve this kind of relentless economic progress? Ahluwalia's not sure, but invokes the successes of Japan, Korea and China, and sees reasons for optimism. Over the past eight years, India's averaged a 7.2% GDP growth rate, and looks likely to land on its feet after the current worldwide recession. On the other hand, the nation's vibrant democracy (420 million voted in the most recent elections) can make agreement on economic policy and its implementation difficult. Ahluwalia is "not complaining," but acknowledges that this kind of participative society "means we're taking longer to get done what needs to be done." He sees institutional strengths that will enable India to push its development agenda forward: a sense of confidence pervades Indian society; past reforms have "unleashed tremendous energy in the private sector;" the economy has opened up to greater domestic and foreign markets; and in spite of changes in government, the general economic policies continue to evolve. Ahluwalia acknowledges that defeating poverty may not address everyone's goals for success. The true objective for India, he believes, is "inclusive growth," an equitable and constructive distribution of economic gains via market forces, government and public means. About the Speaker(s): Montek Singh Ahluwalia has also served as a member of the Indian Planning Commission and member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. He had previously held positions as Finance Secretary, Ministry of Finance; Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Commerce Secretary; Special Secretary to the Prime Minister; and Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance. Ahluwalia became the first Director of the Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Fund (IMF) on July 9, 2001. On June 16, 2004, he was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission and was reappointed to the post in June 2009 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In 2007, Ahluwalia became a member of the Group of Thirty, an international body of the world's most senior and influential economists. He earned his B.A. (Hons) degree in New Delhi and his M.A. and M. Phil. degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. His published work includes papers in professional journals and contributions to books. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Global MIT

Legatum Lecture - Paul Polak

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:16:56 GMT

Paul Polak isn't your everyday global poverty fighter. He's a 75-year old former psychiatrist who believes that the world's poorest people, most of whom are farmers living on less than $2/day, are capable entrepreneurs and viable consumers. It's a philosophy that drove him to start International Development Enterprises (IDE), a non-profit providing these $2/day farmers affordable irrigation & high-yield farming strategies. After 25 years, Dr. Polak and IDE succeeded in moving over 17 million people out of poverty. He has since turned over leadership of the organization to Al Doerkson but remains actively involved as a board member and advisor. Still driven to do more, he decided to start another non-profit venture, a for-profit venture, and to write a book, all aimed at harnessing the market to combat poverty. The non-profit, called D-Rev: Design for the Other 90%, aims to create a global "design revolution" to change the way the world's best designers view and serve the 2.8 billion people who live on less than $2 a day. Dr. Polak outlines the principles for this design revolution in his book Out of Poverty: What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail, explaining how designers can profitably serve the world's lowest-income consumers while simultaneously providing them a path out of poverty. His for-profit venture, called Windhorse International, will demonstrate that big business can be a part of this revolution. Poverty better watch out!

Legatum Lecture: Michael Chu, Micro-finance Pioneer (updated)

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:59:58 GMT

Michael Chu discusses bottom-up development and entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Chu is Managing Director and co-founder of the Ignia Fund, an equity firm based in Mexico dedicated to investing in and developing commercial enterprises focused on low socio-economic sectors. By meeting the vastly underserved needs of the low income population in areas such as healthcare, housing, education and basic services, Ignia seeks to empower entrepreneurship and generate social impact while creating attractive financial returns for its investors. Chu also holds an appointment as Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School (HBS).

Legatum Lecture: Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder of the Acumen Fund

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:57:34 GMT

Jacqueline Novogratz speaks to MIT students about her work in creating the Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Jacqueline Novogratz is the CEO of Acumen Fund and author of the recently published book, The Blue Sweater, which tells her story leaving a career in international banking to spend her life on a quest to understand global poverty and find powerful new ways of tackling it.

What Is the CoLab?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:19:04 GMT

Harish Hande: Energy Services for the Poor

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:46:12 GMT

This seminar was given on October 7, 2008 as part of the MITEI Seminar Series. Abstract: The poor in the world pay more for energy services, which are often unreliable and from unsustainable sources. There are ways to provide the poor with energy services from sustainable energy sources using innovative combinations of technology and finance. Renewable energies, such as solar, can provide solutions for a better environment and help to alleviate poverty. About the Speaker: Dr. Harish Hande is an engineer and a renewable energy entrepreneur with extensive grassroots experience in meeting the energy requirements of rural households. He is the co-founder of SELCO-INDIA of which he is the Managing Director. SELCO-India is a rural energy service based out of Bangalore, India.. Since 1995, SELCO-India has installed over 95,000 solar lighting systems in rural households. His experience includes a large number of health, education and water related projects: over 500 small rural and urban health clinics, over 1000 rural and semi-urban schools and dormitories, and over 1500 irrigation and drinking water systems. Dr. Hande also is on the board of many national and international organizations. The MITEI Seminar Series is proudly sponsored by CERA.

Health Care Policy and the Next U.S. Administration

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT

10/22/2008 6:00 PM e"25"111Jonathan Gruber, '87, Professor of Economics MacVicar Faculty Fellow; Description: In an energetic talk delivered prior to the U.S. presidential election, Jonathan Gruberprovides a useful breakdown of the two candidates' remedies for the nation's troubled health care system. His detailed analysis of the key issues around health care may prove invaluable as the next president assumes office. After decades of discussing health reform and watching national health costs balloon uncontrollably, says Gruber, we may finally be watching a consensus emerge to fix what's broken: a crisis where more than 47 million Americans lack health insurance, and "are a car accident away from being bankrupted." Gruber describes key areas that reform must tackle: pooling of health care markets, affordable plans, and mandates. The left and right differ on how to guarantee that sick, poor, young and old pay a fair price for medical care, the degree to which government must subsidize the poorest Americans, and whether the nation should or can achieve universal coverage. One side favors a single payer system, and the other tax credits, and both sides contain fatal flaws, says Gruber. A new way is coalescing called incremental universalism, says Gruber, and its basic outlines emerge from Massachusetts' 2006 health care system. There's heavily subsidized insurance for folks below the poverty line, as well as insurance that works for those above poverty cutoffs. Every employer in the state with 10 or more employees must offer health insurance. There's also an individual mandate (a source of contentious debate, as Gruber attests), so no one can skirt the issue of holding health insurance and hoping for the best. Gruber says after two years, the plan "is doing fantastically," with a huge pickup (440 thousand) of previously uninsured people onto the health care rolls. The cost of people getting free care at hospitals fell almost by half in the first quarter of 2008. But Gruber admits he's not sure what to do about cost control. We currently spend 16% of GDP on health care. Obama's plan, modeled after Massachusetts' but with no mandate, will likely cost between $60"100 billion. McCain advocates ending the tax exclusion for employer sponsored insurance, and handing out tax credits. Says Gruber: "Obama's got a terrific plan that needs money and McCain's got money in need of plan so put them together." Add a mandate to Obama's plan, and then get rid of the tax exclusion. "You could have universal coverage in America more generous than in Massachusetts, and have 50 billion a year left over to spend on wars or whatever." About the Speaker(s): Jonathan Gruber has taught at MIT since 1992. He is also the Director of the Program on Children at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he is a Research Associate. He is a co"editor of the Journal of Public Economics, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Economics. Gruber received his B.S. in Economics from MIT, and his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard. He has received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, a FIRST award from the National Institute on Aging, and the Kenneth Arrow Award for the Best Paper in Health Economics in 1994. He was also one of 15 scientists nationwide to receive the Presidential Faculty Fellow Award from the National Science Foundation in 1995. During the 1997"1998 academic year, Gruber was on leave as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Treasury Department. Gruber was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2005, and in 2006 he received the American Society of Health Economists Inaugural Medal for the best health economist in the nation aged 40 and under. In 2006 he was appointed to the board of the Massachusetts Insurance Connector, the main implementing body for the state's ambitious health care reform effort, and was named the 19th most powerful person in health care in the United States by Modern Healthcare Magazine. Gruber's research focuses on the areas of public finance and health economics. He has published more than 100 research articles, has edited four research volumes, and is the author of Public Finance and Public Policy, a leading undergraduate text.Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Center for International Studies

The International Development Fair: The Human Factor at Work in the World

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT

10/03/2008 10:30 AM Little KresgeAmy Smith, '84, SM '95, ENG '95, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mechanical EngineeringDescription: Imagine if thousands of Amy Smiths were unleashed on the world, providing simple, ingenious inventions to make life easier for those subsisting on less than $2 a day -- half of humanity. This MacArthur Award"winning inventor has been seeding such programs at MIT, and describes tangible results of efforts to inspire students to apply innovative thinking and technology to everyday problems in the developing world. The Designs for Developing Countries Project, the MIT Program in Developmental Entrepreneurship and D (Development)"Lab have spawned a range of initiatives, spanning the fields of public health, labor, and agriculture. In Ghana and Ecuador, MIT students are helping provide safe drinking water, with low"cost water testing methods that can be applied in the field with no electricity. In countries like Haiti and Tibet, smoke from indoor cooking fires leads to high mortality rates among young children. Solar cookers have proven effective in some regions, but old models are very heavy and often slow to boil water in winter. So an MIT project came up with an inexpensive cooker made of canvas and Mylar, easily assembled by villagers, and highly portable _ a major selling point with nomadic communities. Smith recounts other ventures: a bicycle pedal"powered, corn"shelling machine in Tanzania, which entrepreneurs can rent out, and which saves hours of drudgery for women who traditionally remove kernels of corn by hand; a backpack for storing hundreds of doses of vaccine that can be delivered as an inhaled powder and therefore require no refrigeration; cell phone services that allow Brazilian day laborers and bosses to vet each other in advance, and permit Indian health workers to follow up on TB patients. Concludes Smith, "Something like 90% of the world's resources creates products and technologies that serve only the wealthiest 10% of the worlds' population. There's a revolution afoot to promote R&D to get designers to work on technologies for the other 90%." About the Speaker(s): The first female Lemelson"MIT Student Prize winner, Amy Smith received a B.S. (1984) and an S.M. (1995) in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and is currently working toward a M.S. in Technology and Policy. She also won the National Inventor's Hall of Fame Collegiate Inventors Competition (1999). In 2001 Smith helped start the MIT IDEAS Competition to promote student innovation and inventiveness for community needs, which she currently directs.Host(s): Vice President Resource Development, Campaign for Students: The Human Factor

Projects for Change: Bringing Management Tools and Ideas, Collaboration, and Learning"by"Doing to the Challenge of Global Health Delivery for Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and Other Diseases in Resource"Poor Settings

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

06/07/2008 11:00 AM Anjali Sastry, '86, PhD '95, Senior LecturerDescription: The Latin motto on the MIT seal, mens et manus _ mind and hand _ encapsulates Anjali Sastry's view of the combined theoretical and practical education that students gain at the Institute. She cites MIT founder William Barton Rogers's 1860 exhortation for "the most earnest cooperation of intelligent culture with industrial pursuits" as the paradigm of learning by doing, the ideal way to gain and apply knowledge. This undergirds her approach to teaching in tandem with projects in which students practice, test, reflect, share, and thereby enact change for the benefit of an enterprise. The need for practice is a constant theme in Sastry's view of learning. Just as in music, sports, and chess, practice in management skills results in organizational improvement. That is why she considers it imperative that students have opportunities to apply theory to real"world situations. Such hypothesis testing is the logical and essential extension of rigorous study. It takes place in many forms: team projects, extracurricular activities, competitions, and internships. Sastry endorses David Kolb's "learning loop" model: concrete experience, observation and reflection, forming abstract concepts, then further implementing and analyzing. She ponders if this cycle can transcend classroom learning to engender change in the world. Her own research and consulting in health care delivery are based on such a stepped method. She stresses that an integrated, holistic perspective is also required. For instance, a malnourished patient will be unable to absorb drugs administered for AIDS; medicine is insufficient without food. As to the larger picture, she says "obviously we've got to tackle global warming and carbon emissions, but we also need to tackle poverty." Sastry reminds us to recognize our intrinsic biases in examining data, leading to flawed conclusions. "Humans are prey to a variety of very systematic and known challenges to their thinking," she says. To reinforce the point, she displays a list of 42 types of judgment errors, but adds that we can train ourselves to catch these fallacies through conscious attention. Another principle of Sastry's canon is the need for sharing ideas, "community conversations" as she calls it. She believes cumulative individual knowledge alone is not enough to bear fruit. Experience must be evaluated collaboratively to build a body of useful wisdom. She asserts that this is where promise lies to ameliorate great issues facing society. In short, Sastry's formula, informed by system dynamics, is "Act. Review. Improve." Finally, she recommends that we inculcate "a culture of hope" in our efforts: we must believe that change is indeed possible. About the Speaker(s): Anjali Sastry specializes in system dynamics, organizational behavior, and human resource management. She followed up undergraduate degrees in Physics and Russian Studies with a Ph.D. in System Dynamics at MIT Sloan. Previous professional engagements included teaching at the University of Michigan and working at a prominent strategic business consulting firm. Sastry's academic inquiry encompasses the process of learning, evaluating, and iterative improvement; methods of effecting institutional change; collaboration through sharing ideas borne of reflection upon trial and error; and recognizing faulty thinking that impedes progress and insight. She has published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Energy Policy, Corporate Reputation Review, and Technology Review. She is insistently enthusiastic about developing opportunities for students to apply classroom lessons to practical situations, and considers experiential learning a hallmark and virtue of MIT. Sastry's current interests and research address environmental sustainability and global health delivery, with regard to such broad"reaching problems as carbon emissions and tuberculosis, respectively. Optimism is her starting point. Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

Diversifying Cities: Migration, Habitation, and Community Development

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

04/04/2008 3:15 PM Broad InstituteXavier de Souza Briggs, Associate Professor of Sociology and Urban Planning, MIT ; Jessica Andors, MCP '99, Deputy Director, Lawrence CommunityWorks; Abel Valenzuela, Jr., MCP '88, PhD '95, Professor, Director, Center for the Study of Urban Poverty, University of California, Los Angeles; Anna Hardman, MCP '71, PhD '88, Lecturer, Department of Economics, Tufts UniversityDescription: The largest scale migration in human history, says Xavier de Souza Briggs, is potentially the most transformative as well. It's time to consider new frames for issues, he says -- not rehash "civic life as a competition over power" but perhaps see this as a moment when we can realize, finally, the ancient idea of a citizenship. For planners, this may mean learning "how to create a welcoming place, a sense of what's possible." At least 3% of the world's population today live in places where they were not born, says Anna Hardman, and this number is rapidly rising. And yet "immigrants are invisible in dramatic and not so dramatic ways." When riots exploded outside Paris two years ago, "policy makers had no tools to grasp what was happening" because they hadn't collected information on immigrants in those neighborhoods. "They thought it would destroy the perception that everyone with a French passport is a Frenchman." But officials and planners must take greater heed of immigrants, given their growing economic impact in both their new homes and their countries of origin. Focusing just on integration in migrant cities misses two other vital processes, says Abel Valenzuela, Jr. While migrants often lead precarious lives, frequently under the radar of the authorities, they nevertheless are powerfully transforming the neighborhoods into which they move. In South Central LA for example, Latino immigrants have recently surpassed African"Americans, bringing "new cultural mores, economic opportunitiesand lots of great food." Soccer lovers take over parks, and street life feels noticeably different, with vendors, art, employment markets and bazaars. Some communities welcome these changes; others attempt to curtail new activities, frowning on colorful public events and fearing negative impacts on labor markets. Valenzuela sees immigrant flow on the whole as "an economic and cultural stimulus" that may lead to revitalized civic institutions. He promotes policy reform, a path toward normalization for undocumented immigrants and defusing racial tensions that immigrant legislation provokes. He also suggests planners look beyond big gateway cities to rural communities and suburbs, to which immigrants are also bound. Although Lawrence CommunityWorks has built well"designed housing and launched a slew of ventures in this old Massachusetts mill town, Jessica Andors takes greatest pride in her group's network organizing approach. She notes that many "community development interventions are to a large extent supply side--designing the best housing, offering programs to meet local needs." CommunityWorks instead focuses on investing in "informed, educated demand, with people voicing and acting collectively toward what they want." This ultimately gives them an opportunity to shape the political environment that doles out important resources. CommunityWorks helps families save money, buy homes, invest in higher education; it builds mutual support networks; and engages in collective action to "transform the landscape of the city, whether economic, civic, or physical." About the Speaker(s): Xavier de Souza Briggs has a national reputation for his work on social capital and the 'geography of opportunity' _ a policy and research field concerned with the consequences of segregation by race and income. He founded and directs the Community Problem"Solving Project @ MIT, a free learning space for people and institutions worldwide where they can access useful tools for problem"solving in the field. He has written The Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America (Brookings Institution Press, 2005). Prior to MIT, he taught on the public policy faculty at Harvard where he received the Kennedy School's award for excellence in teaching in 2002. A senior policy official in the Clinton Administration from 1998 to 1999, Briggs was Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has been an adviser to The World Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation and other groups. Briggs received a B.S. from Stanford University's School of Engineering, an M.P.A. from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Education from Columbia's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Sustaining Cities: Environment, Economic Development, and Empowerment

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

04/04/2008 10:30 AM Broad InstituteJudith Layzer, PhD '99, Linde Career Development Associate Professor of Environmental Policy; Jason Corburn, MCP '96, PhD '02, Assistant Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley; J. Phillip Thompson, Associate Professor of Urban Politics, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT; Chris Zegras, Ford Career Development Assistant Professor of Transportation and Urban Planning, MIT; Adil Najam, CE '96, PhD '01, Fredrick Pardee Professor of Global Public Policy, Boston University; Lawrence Vale, SM '88, Professor and Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT School of Architecture and PlanningDescription: These five speakers grapple with shifting notions of sustainability. Judith Layzer advocates "strong sustainability" in lieu of the conventional approach, which imagines human"made capital and technology can always substitute for the wealth of resources drawn from the natural world. Development and affluence have instead degraded ecosystems. Strong sustainability "entails living within the productive capacity of naturemeeting the needs of the current generation as opposed to their demands." Wealthy societies must adopt laws to contain population growth and curb consumption, and develop regional cooperation and fair trade policies. Jason Corburn describes an environmental justice framework that connects ecological, economic and social justice issues, especially in urban settings. Corburn asks about the distribution of environmental goods and evils (such as parks and pollution); who participates in rule"making and enforcement; and how environmental justice evolves institutionally, and is enforced. The key lesson of the past is that voluntary enforcement of environmental justice guidelines don't work, and we must "find a legal or regulatory stick to implement" its goals. "Where I'm from, I see this green thing as a rich people's movement," says Phillip Thompson, who was a housing manager in New York. Environmentalists pushed clean air laws that ended the incineration of garbage -- but left housing projects with an unfunded mandate to bag their own waste. Thompson acknowledges the energy crisis is an emergency for many lower"income city dwellers hit with high heating costs: "We can't do affordable housing if it isn't green." But transforming cities into affordable and green places means systemic change. Who, for example, will pay for outfitting buildings in poorer neighborhoods with energy conserving technology, and who will train and educate the workforce required for this transformation? "What are we trying to sustain?" asks Chris Zegras. He believes the answer is access to opportunities that enable development. How do societies expand accessibility without depriving future generations of the ability to do so? Zegras says it's hard to argue the importance of climate change to someone "who travels 3 _ hours a day on a bus to get to a job, and half the salary is eaten up by the bus ride." First, we must alleviate fundamental issues of accessibility for the poor: their lack of affordable transportation and proximity to schools and jobs. Zegras recommends addressing the worldwide crisis in transportation, in part through such innovations as bike and car sharing. Looking down on Earth as if it were one country, says Adil Najam, you'd have to conclude it is poor, extremely divided, degraded, poorly governed and unsafe _ a Third"world country. Addressing the environment turns on development, since "the poor are hit first and hit most." The climate question has moved from discussion of molecules to adaptation, but we remain largely ignorant about how to mitigate and adapt, Najam says. Worse, nations are off on the wrong foot, measuring the problem in terms of only "emissions and dollars." When a Bangladeshi fisherman loses his work to rising waters, what is the cost? "We need to add the currency of livelihood," concludes Najam. About the Speaker(s): Lawerence Vale is the author or editor of six books examining urban design and housing. Architecture, Power, and National Identity (1992), a book about capital city design on six continents, received the 1994 Spiro Kostof Book Award for Architecture and Urbanism from the Society of Architectural Historians. Vale is also Co"Editor, with Sam Bass Warner, Jr., of Imaging the City: Continuing Struggles and New Directions (Center for Urban Policy Research Press, 2001), and co"editor, with Thomas J. Campanella, of The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover From Disaster (Oxford University Press, 2005), which was recognized as one of the "Ten Best Books for 2005" by Planetizen, the Planning and Development network. He attended Amherst College, and received the S.M.Arch.S. degree from MIT and a D.Phil from the University of Oxford. He has been a Rhodes Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow, as well as the recipient of the 1997 Chester Rapkin Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. He has taught at the MIT since 1988.Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Ensuring Educational Access: Our Challenge, Our Opportunity

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:00:00 GMT

02/21/2008 7:30 AM Walker Morss HallJamira Cotton, '08, Undergraduate, Chemical Engineering; Kenneth Kweku Bota, Second"year graduate student, Dept of Chemistry and Whitehead InstituteDescription: Two MIT students honor their experience at MIT, but ask that the Institute acknowledge an unequal world and embrace a larger mission. Jamira Cotton has long understood the privilege, and burden, of representing an entire community. She attended a middle school for gifted and talented children as only one of five black female students. Her parents early on instilled in her the "charge to be a leader." In public high school she realized "not only did I need to be the smart enough black girl for my white peers, but I had to be the black enough smart girl for my black peers." Cotton feels deeply W.E.B. DuBois' call 'to elevate the race and carry the community forward.' At MIT, Cotton is engaged in research to figure out whether MIT is creating an environment that successfully nurtures leaders, that graduates students with a sense of responsibility. "Our challenge as a higher institution is to ensure that every student is receiving the best education they need for what they must do," says Cotton. Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities frames Kenneth Kweku Bota's talk. Cambridge and its two preeminent universities -- places of enlightenment and discovery -- represent the best of times. But just across the Charles, for Boston's neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, it is the worst of times. Bota notes that "few students who attend MIT and Harvardwill ever leave their comfortable nests and meet a child who attends schools that have become dilapidated and lack adequate books, computers and other critical learning materials." Bota has made this effort, as a Big Brother to a 12"year"old Dorchester boy. Last summer they toured MIT together, and the child noted with envy, and some displeasure, his lack of access to computers and books. While MIT provides abundant resources, says Bota, "no matter how smart and innovative we are in using them, we will not achieve and witness the full spirit of Dr. King unless we begin to commit ourselves to helping those who are less fortunate than we are." As a great citadel of scientific achievement, MIT become even greater if it reaches out to the surrounding communities "in an effort to close the gap in educational attainment and access between black and white, women and men, and yes, Cambridge and Roxbury." About the Speaker(s): Jamira Cotton is an undergraduate in Chemical Engineering ('08) and Kenneth Kweku Bota is a second"year graduate student in the Department of Chemistry and the Whitehead Biomedical Institute.Host(s): Office of the President, MIT Annual Breakfast Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bridging the Delivery Gap to Global Health

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:00:00 GMT

11/19/2007 12:00 PM Wong AuditoriumDr. Jim Yong Kim, Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights, Harvard Medical School; Board of Directors, Partners in Health Description: Jim Yong Kim and Partners in Health are paradoxically suffering from their own success. They demonstrated over the past decade that it is possible to set up effective HIV and primary care clinics in such developing nations as Haiti, and that it's possible to cure multiple drug resistant tuberculosis. They even managed to persuade pharmaceutical companies to permit the production of generic, less expensive antiretroviral medicines so they could be affordable to the poorest people. But now, as billions of dollars flow into efforts to attack diseases that needlessly kill and maim the world's poor, we find ourselves "living in the middle of an implementation bottleneck," says Kim. Whether from the Gates or Clinton Foundations, or from international government initiatives, money is flowing into new products like HIV/AIDS vaccines, TB vaccines, microbicides, anti"malarial drugs, and surgical services such as male circumcision. It could all "have a huge impact," says Kim, helping to forestall 10 million preventable deaths per year, but for the increasingly massive logjam in delivering all the care. Why is it so hard to distribute the expertise, technology, resources, to the people in need? There are all kinds of "just answers" that Kim gets: just align incentives; just make the markets work better; just fund infrastructures adequately; just give workers the management skills. While he agrees that these are all relevant issues, Kim really wants an integrated response. He'd like to see medical schools like Harvard, where he's on staff, develop the kind of case studies commonly employed at business and engineering schools to dissect complex strategy problems. For instance, medical students today have no idea how smallpox was eradicated _ the story of this immense project combining management and epidemiology has been lost as a teaching tool. Just as Harvard Business School was "teaching the Jet Blue meltdown three weeks after it happened," so must medical schools capture current problems and approach them both qualitatively and quantitatively. Kim calls on institutions like MIT Sloan to help devise new analytic frameworks for examining and improving global health delivery. "There's room for a whole new field, health care delivery science," says Kim, combining multiple disciplines, and developing leaders to advance evidence based strategies. We can't alleviate human suffering caused by disease "just being the lab, or by doing clinical research." It's now time "to build functioning health care systems everywhere in the world." About the Speaker(s): Jim Yong Kim was director of the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS department, a post he was appointed to in March 2004 after serving as advisor to the WHO director"general. He oversaw all of WHO's work related to HIV/AIDS, focusing on initiatives to help developing countries scale up their treatment, prevention, and care programs, including the "3x5" initiative designed to put three million people in developing countries on AIDS treatment by the end of 2005. Kim was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003; and was named one of America's 25 best leaders by US News & World Report in 2005; and one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. He was a contributing editor to the 2003 and 2004 World Health Report, and his edited volume Dying for Growth: Global Inequity and the Health of the Poor analyzes the effects of economic and political change on health outcomes in developing countries. Kim trained dually as a physician and medical anthropologist. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University.Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

Global Health Equity

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:00:00 GMT

11/15/2007 4:00 PM Kirsch 32"123Paul Farmer, Founder, Partners in HealthDescription: Don't foolishly advise Paul Farmer that his bold projects can't succeed. For the past 20 years, Farmer's been toppling orthodoxies concerning the delivery of health care to people of developing nations, and to our country's inner city poor. In a talk full of insights and anecdotes, Farmer brings his audience up to date on his groundbreaking work and methods. In the early 80s, Farmer was a Harvard medical student studying infectious disease in Haiti. HIV was taking a deadly toll there and in the U.S., but Farmer was struck by the inequity of treatment. "The idea of a different standard of care for people 1 _ hours from Miami didn't strike me as a good idea." Health care, Farmer came to believe, is a basic human right. In the early 90s, antiretroviral drugs emerged in the U.S. as a powerful treatment for AIDS -- but were priced beyond the reach of developing countries. Farmer and his colleagues began a public battle against such global inequalities. They demanded affordable drugs, and support for community"based health care initiatives, viewed by international funders as unsustainable and cost"ineffective. With a loan from a commercial bank in Boston, Farmer set out to prove everyone wrong. Starting with one facility, Farmer established community medical clinics across Haiti, run by and for Haitians, securing and disbursing affordable drugs for HIV and TB, and educating the community in preventive medicine. Local workers spread out into neighborhoods, to initiate and follow up on care. Farmer used his AIDS programs "as a battle horse to ride into the fight against poverty, and to talk about education, food security and housing." Farmer's support broadened to include such powerful funders as the Clinton Foundation. This has enabled him to take his program into Africa, first to Rwanda and more recently to Lesotho and Malawi. Farmer's Partners in Health group rebuilds medical infrastructure weakened by war or years of neglect; takes care of the sick; and then trains hundreds of local citizens. Haitians, whom Farmer describes as his teachers, have been spearheading much of the work in Africa. The costs of scaling up come less from labor, than from basic goods like food, and bumps in the supply chain. But the biggest obstacle of all, says Farmer, according, is "nay"saying, low expectations, a certain undertow of censorious opinion. As if it weren't hard enough to do the work, you have to fight a lot of skepticism, not from patients, coworkers or family members, but from your peers." About the Speaker(s): Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer is a founding director of Partners In Health, an international charity organization that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. He is medical director of a charity hospital, the Clinique Bon Sauveur, in rural Haiti. Farmer has written extensively about health and human rights, and about the role of social inequalities in the distribution and outcome of infectious diseases. He is the author of Pathologies of Power (University of California Press, 2003); Infections and Inequalities (University of California Press, 1998); The Uses of Haiti (Common Courage Press, 1994); and AIDS and Accusation (University of California Press, 1992). In addition, he is co"editor of Women, Poverty, and AIDS, (Common Courage Press, 1996) and of The Global Impact of Drug"Resistant Tuberculosis (Harvard Medical School and Open Society Institute, 1999). Farmer is the recipient of the Duke University Humanitarian Award, the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association, the American Medical Association's Outstanding International Physician (Nathan Davis) Award, and the Heinz Humanitarian Award. In 1993, he was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in recognition of his work. Farmer is the subject of Pulitzer Prizewinner Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House, 2003). Farmer received his Bachelor's degree from Duke University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences

Games and Civic Engagement

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:00:00 GMT

Video games could transform the world some day, if only their potential could be fully realized.

A Genius for Change, and the Passion to Do It

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:00:00 GMT

10/10/2007 6:00 PM MuseumAmy Smith, '84, SM '95, ENG '95, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Jules Walter, '08, MIT '08 (Computer Science); Kendra Johnson, MIT '09; Amos Winter, SM '05, M.S. Mech Engineering, '05Description: If you live in a developing country, chances are you spend a good part of your day engaged in backbreaking, repetitive labor to put food on the table. The MIT students in this Soap Box session have rolled up their sleeves to find simple solutions for the half of the world without access to safe drinking water, electricity, and all the conveniences we take for granted. At Amy Smith's MIT D-Lab (for design, development, dissemination), the goal is inventing -the simplest, cheapest thing you possibly can" for the citizens of impoverished nations. For instance, she tells us, D-Lab has come up with an electricity-free incubator that allows people to test their water for nasty microbes, and a turbine-less wind generator, among other inventions. Her students elaborate on some of their current projects, which hold the potential to help millions. Jules Walter had the idea of putting his native Haiti's millions of pounds of sugar cane waste to good use. They developed a low cost process to transform cane discards into charcoal, which is then carbonized, mixed with a binder (locally available cassava), and pressed. This system creates an inexpensive cane briquet for indoor cooking that offers a much preferable alternative to chopping down a tree (Haiti is already 90% deforested). In addition, it should help lower that country's high rate of respiratory infections due to wood charcoal inhalation. Walter hopes to market this invention for large-scale distribution in Haiti. Kendra Johnson has come up with a bicycle-powered grain mill that can make masa, wet corn ground into fine dough for tortillas. This is a dietary staple for many Central and South American people. Normally, a woman would spend hours with a hand mortar or pestle, or visit a diesel-powered mill to buy masa for the nightly meal. Now, the bike design makes it possible to achieve the end result in a fraction of the time. Graduate student Amos Winter wants to bring mobility technology to developing countries, where it can be difficult to find a clear sidewalk or smooth road surface. Western wheelchairs are much too expensive, and quickly break down in third-world conditions. Consequently in places like Tanzania, where Winter has worked, only 4% of those who need a wheelchair have one. He has been designing a hand-powered tricycle with two gears, which can stay upright on rutted roads and go uphill. Working with local groups, he has developed workshops in nine countries to start developing and marketing prototypes. About the Speaker(s): The first female Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner, Amy Smith received a B.S. (1984) and an S.M. (1995) in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and is currently working toward a M.S. in Technology and Policy. She also won the National Inventor's Hall of Fame Collegiate Inventors Competition (1999). In 2001 Smith helped start the MIT IDEAS Competition to promote student innovation and inventiveness for community needs, which she currently directs.Host(s): Office of the Provost, MIT Museum

Global Poverty: How Demanding Are Our Obligations?

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:00:00 GMT

09/21/2007 3:30 PM 32-155Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and laureate professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, University of MelbourneDescription: Peter Singer walks listeners through one of his most provocative philosophical arguments -- that affluent individuals must acknowledge their moral obligation to relieve the unnecessary death and suffering of the poor. His sinuous reasoning starts with the simple case of a bystander coming upon a child drowning in a pond with no one else around. Should the bystander leave the child to drown, or must he stay and save the child? Most people intuitively recognize a duty to rescue the child. Singer argues from analogy that there is -no morally relevant difference between the drowning child situation and the situation of the affluent with regard to children dying of avoidable poverty related causes." Singer plays this scenario out in a variety of ways, and responds to counter-arguments that have been deployed against it over the years. Is there a stronger moral obligation to a child encountered in the flesh than to a faceless child in a distant place? There's psychological evidence that people tend to donate more money when they can match their aid to a face, but the fact that we have -an evolved response to an individual in need" doesn't justify this as normative moral theory, says Singer. And while it is true that we give weight to unique responsibility, such as that of a parent to a child, we should not allow this to limit our actions. Singer promulgates the idea that -if we (relatively affluent individuals) can prevent something bad without sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance, we ought to do it." Since absolute poverty is bad, we ought to act against such poverty. Singer responds to critics who claim that individuals need do no more than their fair share, and to those who try to restrict what people reasonably owe others. Singer labels arguments laying out the right to pursue individual goals and protect life-enhancing goods as -all ways of trying to find a principle that squares with the intuition that morality shouldn't be too demanding and allow us to continue to live a comfortable life." He admits that -some say I'm preaching a demanding ethic that will make life miserable." He cites some alternative public standards, such as tithing 10% of income. Singer himself now gives close to 1/3rd of what he earns. With a little reflection, people might find that improving the situation of others constitutes a satisfying alternative to feathering their own nests. Singer concludes, -Living the ethical life is what is going to make life better." About the Speaker(s): Peter Singer is the author of, most recently, The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter, coauthored with Jim Mason. Singer was the founding president of the International Association of Bioethics, and, with Helga Kuhse, founding coeditor of the journal Bioethics. He first became well known internationally after the publication of Animal Liberation. His other books include: Democracy and Disobedience; Practical Ethics; The Expanding Circle; Should the Baby Live? (with Helga Kuhse); How Are We to Live?; Rethinking Life and Death; and The President of Good and Evil. His works have appeared in more than 20 languages. He is Vice-President, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; a member of the Oxfam America Leadership Council, as well as a member of the World Council of Religious Leaders Global Ethics Initiative. Singer also serves on the International Advisory Board of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy

One Laptop per Child: Revolutionizing How the World's Children Engage in Learning

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 05:00:00 GMT

01/17/2007 7:00 PM Walter Bender, SM '80, Senior Research Scientist, MIT Media LabDescription: In an informal conversation with an MIT Museum audience, Walter Bender describes the mission and progress of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) venture. The brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte and the MIT Media Lab, this enterprise aims to put low-cost ($100 or less!) laptops into the hands of a billion plus children in the developing world. The mission is not merely to supply inexpensive technology, but to provide a multi-purpose teaching tool, Bender explains, with hardware and software aimed at enabling kids to explore the world and express themselves. MIT is not a Johnny come lately to the area of technology and children. -We've been living and breathing this for 40 years," says Bender. OLPC embraces the beliefs that we all learn and we all teach, and that we're expressive and social, so the laptop is -designed with a low floor and no ceiling," as Bender puts it. For instance, a child can access and play instruments, or record her voice. If inclined, a child can compose and record music sequences. Since the laptop functions as part of a local area network, even in the most remote places (by way of a crank-up power charger), children can even make music together. They -can be both consumers and creators of content," Bender notes. -Real learning happens while they're being expressive." In a map of the world displaying nations that have expressed interest in acquiring MIT's laptops, pretty much every country is in color. In 2006, Libya signed up for 1.2 million laptops, one for every school-age child in the nation, giving OLPC an Arabic-speaking launch country. A Cambridge city councilor asks Bender whether One Laptop per Child can bridge the digital divide in the U.S., where there are a lot of kids with no computers at home. Bender replies that while his laptop -is on a trajectory where it should be useful to any kid anywhere," the immediate issues are supply and need: in the U.S., the average annual expense on education per child is around $7 thousand annually, and in developing countries, it's at most $200-300 per year. -Where am I going to focus in the short term? It's Guatemala, not here." About the Speaker(s): Before taking his leave of absence from MIT, Walter Bender was executive director of the MIT Media Laboratory, and holder of the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Chair. At the Media Lab, he was director of the Electronic Publishing group; he also directed the Gray Matters special interest group, which focuses on technology's impact on the aging population. In 1992, Bender founded the News in the Future consortium and has been a member of the Lab's SIMPLICITY, Things That Think, and Digital Life consortia. Bender joined the Architecture Machine Group at MIT in 1978, after receiving his B.A. from Harvard University in 1977. He received his M.S. at MIT in 1980. A founding member of the Media Laboratory, Bender has engaged in the study of new information technologies, particularly those that affect people directly. He has participated in much of the pioneering research in the field of electronic publishing and personalized interactive multimedia.Host(s): Office of the Provost, MIT Museum

Global Entrepreneurship: Inefficiency as Opportunity in the Developing World

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 04:00:00 GMT

09/21/2006 7:00 PM KresgeAlex (Sandy) Pentland, PhD '82, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, and Director of Human Dynamics Research, MIT Media Lab; Damien Balsan, SM '02, VP Business Development, WAY Systems ; Rick Burnes, Co-founder, Charles River Ventures; Iqbal Quadir, Co-founder and Director of the MIT Program for Developmental Entrepreneurship; Randy Zadra, Managing Director, Institute for Connectivity in the AmericasDescription: Where aid programs and government policies fail, small-scale business people armed with the latest technology can succeed. Damien Balsan perceived that in developing nations, ordinary -bottom of the pyramid" merchants -- taxi drivers, plumbers, electricians -- could grow their businesses if they could accept secure credit card payments. So Balsan equipped mobile phones with a card reading stripe and pulled together a credit network. After first testing his notion in the U.S., he headed overseas. Balsan found the formula works just as well in China, where -merchants are happy to take your cards when visiting the Great Wall." In Mexico, mariachi bands now accept plastic, and even salaries can be managed through cell phones in South Africa, via -guys on oxcarts." Balsan's next target is the Avon ladyãpart of a vast army of direct sales vendors: 13 million in the U.S. alone and rising rapidly elsewhere in the world. Randy Zadra brought the internet to customers in developing nations back in the mid 90s, when it was a -battle to get resources dedicated to emerging markets." Zadra realized that these economies were often based on inefficient communication, transportation or financial networks. He turned these deficits into opportunities. One of his programs provides improved ways for foreign workers to send money back to their home countries. Throughout Latin America, these remittances amount to $36 billion per year. Zadra enables bank users to send videos and voice mail back and forth as well. Another program provides electricity in small rural villages, using low cost LEDs, recharged by the people themselves. -It's putting the base of the pyramid to work," says Zadra. Venture capitalist Rick Burnes believes -that backing pure technology is a sure way to lose money," but that companies will succeed if they -clearly identify a market need and customer demand." With the developing world, -deep knowledge of local markets and cultures is critical to success." The only way to stimulate more entrepreneurial activity in these regions is by -working from the demand backwards." Burnes suggests employing -returnees," the people who come to the U.S. for work or school, and then go back to their countries of origin. -These people understand both worlds and can be particularly effective in getting new organizations started." -Poor countries are poor," says Iqbal Quadir, -because a vast number of things are wasted _ including people and time." Quadir, who marked well the success of the Grameen Bank (provider of microcredit loans to poor people in Bangladesh) -realized the telephone could be a weapon against poverty." He developed a -phone for the masses," whereby a poor villager takes out a loan to buy a phone, sells phone calls to neighbors, then pays off the loan and earns additional income. In Bangladesh, this venture has provided phone access to close to 100 million people, and improved the lives of micro-merchants. Grameen Phone's total impact on his nation's GDP, Quadir believes, is probably three times larger than the foreign aid it receives, which often lands in the pockets of corrupt officials. About the Speaker(s): Alex (Sandy) Pentland is a pioneer in wearable computers, health systems, smart environments, and technology for developing countries. He is a co-founder of the Wearable Computing research community, the Autonomous Mental Development research community, the Center for Future Health, and was the founding director of the Media Lab Asia. He was formerly the Academic Head of the MIT Media Laboratory. Pentland was chosen by Newsweek as one of the 100 Americans most likely to shape the next century. Host(s): Alumni Association, MIT Enterprise Forum

Planning After Katrina: What Have We Learned so Far?

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 04:00:00 GMT

09/21/2006 6:00 PM Bartos TheaterRachel Bratt, Tufts University; Philip Thompson, MIT; Jon Whitten, Tufts University; Stephen Villavaso, AICP; Peter Lowitt, AICP; Lawrence Vale, SM '88, Professor and Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT School of Architecture and Planning; Jerold Kayden, Harvard University; Susan Fainstein, PhD '71, Harvard UniversityDescription: An air of frustration and anger pervades this panel, which examines the progress of recovery efforts in New Orleans a little more than a year after Hurricane Katrina. Stephen Villavaso returned to his home 20 days after the disaster to fetch his abandoned cat. -I don't think New Orleans was a city at that pointThere was no communication system, no infrastructure, no potable water, no drainage, no government, nowhere to get food. It was a military state." He is rebuilding his house now, and is deeply involved in broader planning projects. Problem is, Villavaso says, there are many, many layers to -this planning cake." There are state agencies, a mayoral commission, city council efforts _ -top down planning, bottom up planning, a blizzard of planning." But none of this -has any legal basis whatsoever." A glimmer of hope lies in private foundation attempts to create a unified planning process. Yet this is -not the kind of master plan citizens of New Orleans have in mind," says Villavaso, since it falls short of laying out a blueprint for concrete next steps. J. Philip Thompson finds it -frankly amazing, embarrassing and outrageous that after the largest national disaster in 100 years in a city that we're talking about a $3.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation as critical to pulling together planning for a major city." He places New Orleans' situation in a broader political context, one of public hostility toward urban funding. Thompson finds -barely concealed racial undertones of wasting money on an urban population, poor people, and people of color who don't deserve it." So money has dried up for city planning, leaving New Orleans in a particularly vulnerable spot. Community participation -is largely a faade," since a genuinely inclusive process would mean reaching out to widely dispersed New Orleanians, and such a process would be -hugely expensive." Those involved in planning may be vulnerable -to misrepresentation and manipulation" by others with greater means. Above all, Thompson wishes the planning process would aim beyond housing and social services, and seize on a -great opportunity to break the cycle of poverty." He imagines education and training boot camps, and efforts to link citizens to jobs with opportunities for advancement. Jon Witten urges skepticism in evaluating all land use plans, not just those for recovery in New Orleans. -Land development in the absence of comprehensive planning programs results in anarchy benefiting only those with vested interests in rebuilding," he says. In New Orleans, planning must avoid sole source contractors and the formation of elite committees. Witten is wary of trendy terminology -that sounds like one thing but perhaps means another." -New urbanism" and -smart growth" don't guarantee intelligently designed neighborhoods or avoidance of sprawl, and efforts must be made -to respect historical development patterns" as well. About the Speaker(s): Stephen Villavaso, AICP, President of the APA's Louisiana chapter, whose firm has been recently selected to coordinate the various neighborhood plans for the rebuilding of New Orleans. Professor J. Philip Thompson, MIT Leader of MIT's efforts in community revitalization and economic development in New Orleans Professor Jon Witten, AICP, Tufts University Lecturer in Urban and Environmental Policy Moderator: Professor Susan Fainstein, Harvard University Professor of Urban Planning Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Fighting Poverty: What Works? The Work of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 04:00:00 GMT

06/10/2006 11:00 AM KresgeEsther Duflo, PhD '99, Abdul Latif Jameel Prof of Poverty Allev & Develop Department of EconomicsDescription: Esther Duflo hopes to take the measure of a wide range of anti-poverty programs. Applying scientific methodology, her colleagues and students at the MIT Poverty Action Lab are approaching the projects of well-intended governments and NGO's with a fresh eye. -We have a spotty and scattered idea of the most effective ways to deliver social impact," says Duflo, so evaluating what works is important. She describes the U.N. goal of ensuring that all children worldwide attend school. Many programs aimed at achieving this goal simply don't deliver the results intended. Some approaches that gained credibility and support involve giving away school uniforms and providing free meals. But, says Duflo, -Sometimes ideas that become conventional wisdom are erroneous and need to be rethought," especially since the -budget for fighting poverty is extremely limited and will remain limited." Researchers compared a program that aimed to improve children's school attendance through a program of deworming, with a program that paid kids to go to school. Testing these projects -the way we do drugs, with treatment and control groups chosen randomly," Duflo found that the $3 per year deworming program resulted in a dramatically higher increase in school years attended than did the $6,000 per year program paying kids to attend school. Duflo insists on -being pragmatic about what works and what doesn't," and attempts to evaluate not just the effectiveness of programs but the auditing of corruption often found in social programs in the developing world. If the groups implementing a program partner early with Duflo, and embrace a rigorous evaluation of their work, they can often abort ineffective approaches and expand successful ones, maximizing their anti-poverty investment, says Duflo. -The best quality research must form the basis of good policy," she concludes. About the Speaker(s): Esther Duflo specializes in development economics. She obtained her Masters in Economics from DELTA and Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris in 1995, and completed her Ph.D. in Economics at MIT in 1999. Most recently, she was the recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the John M. Olin Faculty Fellowship, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and the Elaine Bennett Prize for Research. Duflo's work focuses on the evaluation in developing countries of the efficacy of policies and initiatives put forth by governments and non-governmental organizations involving education reform, political participation, within-family patterns of resource allocation, and health care delivery. She is also interested in the political economy of public goods provision and gender issues and the economics of the family. She co-founded the Poverty Action Lab, a research center at MIT focusing on randomized evaluation of anti-poverty programs. Host(s): Alumni Association, Alumni Association

Dr. King's Unfinished Agenda: A Call for Economic & Social Justice in the 21st Century

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 05:00:00 GMT

02/09/2006 7:30 AM Walker Morss HallDonna Brazile, Founder and Managing Director of Brazile and Associates, LLCDescription: Donna Brazile's informal but impassioned address illuminates her role not only as a mover and shaker in the halls of power but as a great national conscience. Brazile mourned the passing of Coretta Scott King at this event held ten days after Mrs. King's death: "I loved her spirit and determination." But she reminds us, "The most important thing is not just to cry and weep but continue her work." She calls for the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, which she describes as "the most important civil rights law that was passed," and chides President Bush for not endorsing the legislation at Mrs. King's funeral. Brazile was pressed into organizing the funeral cortege for another national icon, Rosa Parks. "I've been in presidential motorcades, vice presidential motorcades. I'd never been in a motorcade that a black woman was leading." When the procession wound its way through Washington, D.C.'s poorest neighborhoods on a cold, winter night, "people were lined up with their children outside to wave goodbye." While we owe so much to those who championed freedom and justice and equality, says Brazile, "it's fitting we continue to spread the gospel of peace, love, mercy and justice." Brazile's most involved, and involving, tale, involves her large family, stuck in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Planes flew over as family members begged for water in the scorching heat. When she learned that the authorities would not evacuate her disabled sister from an assisted living facility, because senior citizens and people in public housing were "not a priority," Brazile took characteristic action. "I combed my hair, put on some makeup, and I went to CNN. I said, "Wolf, I need five minutes." Now, her aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters "are scattered in eight states in 14 cities. In order to keep up with them and to communicate I have to pull out an Excel sheet because they're still on the run from the worse storm of all, and that's the storm of indifference." It's time for a "frank conversation about the poor in America," says Brazile. Today, "our country's moving in the wrong direction and we need a course correction." Current policies are damaging racial equality, and economic and social justice, she says, and it's time for citizens to take a stand. "Don't wait for the president or vice president or any member of Congress to tell you what you know in your heart is the right thing to do. If you believe in justice, if you believe that Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King served a greater cause and a more noble cause, then give back and help lift someone up." About the Speaker(s): Donna Brazile, Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute (VRI) and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, is a senior political strategist and former Campaign Manager for Gore-Lieberman 2000 -- the first African-American to lead a major presidential campaign. Prior to joining the Gore campaign, Brazile was Chief of Staff and Press Secretary to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia where she helped guide the District's budget and local legislation on Capitol Hill. Brazile is a weekly contributor and political commentator on CNN's Inside Politics, and American Morning. In addition, she is a columnist for Roll Call Newspaper and a contributing writer for Ms. Magazine. A veteran of numerous national and statewide campaigns, Brazile has worked on several presidential campaigns for Democratic candidates, including Carter-Mondale in 1976 and 1980; Rev. Jesse Jackson's first historic bid for the presidency in 1984; Mondale-Ferraro in 1984; U.S. Representative Dick Gephardt in 1988; Dukakis-Bentsen in 1988; and Clinton-Gore in 1992 and 1996. Brazile earned her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Host(s): Office of the President, MIT Annual Breakfast Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Tape #: T20896.

MLK Breakfast 2006: Student Remarks

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 05:00:00 GMT

With a mix of bitterness and hope, these two young men address the legacy of Martin Luther King.

Leading Across Boundaries

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Peter Senge, SM '72, PhD '78, Senior Lecturer MIT. Founding Chair of the Society for Organizational Learning; Ronald O'Connor, Founder, Management Sciences for Health; Frannie Leautier, Vice President, World Bank Institute; Jeremy Hockenstein, MBA '99, CEO/COO, Digital Divide Data

Description:
"This is a strange and paradoxical time," says moderator Peter Senge, in which people live "more and more in each other's backyard"-- interdependent globally but also fragmented by economics and politics. Senge believes "working across boundaries is the defining challenge" of our era.

Ron O'Connor is a pioneer in the practice of crossing boundaries. While volunteering as a medical student in Nepal 30 years ago, he observed devastating mortality rates that could be eradicated if up-to-date public health measures were implemented. But he also understood that Westerners couldn't simply go in and impose solutions on a different culture. "We're seen as a big gorilla knocking over small helpless countries." The organization he founded assists and trains native communities and leaders to put their own health solutions in place. In a Bangladesh family planning effort, O'Connor was "thrilled to see illiterate village women organize themselves" and halve their fertility rate over two decades.

In Frannie Leautier's job, she's forbidden to "influence via money '.just through ideas." "I can't rely on much more than people talking to each other and making decisions together," she says. So her clients' perspective and needs come first. In Sri Lanka, for instance, where Leautier's group lived for two weeks in a poor village, she learned that providing running water was less essential than creating two ponds: one for people and the other for elephants.

Jeremy Hockenstein says he's "inspired by people who have overcome much more than me and worked harder than I ever had." A visit to Cambodia introduced Hockenstein to large numbers of poor people "trying to learn computers, and English" but for whom no jobs existed. He decided to launch a data entry business dedicated to providing some of the neediest Cambodians with decent livelihoods. Digital Divide Data trains and hires disabled people and women rescued from sex trafficking, among others. They work six-hour days and go to school. Says Hockenstein, "We measure ourselves by how many go on to better jobs in the future."

Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Leadership Center

The Hundred Dollar Laptop-Computing for Developing Nations

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 04:00:00 GMT

09/28/2005 8:45 AM KresgeNicholas Negroponte, BAR '66, MAR '66, Chairman and Co-Founder, MIT Media Laboratory Wiesner Professor of Media Technology; Chairman, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)Description: Imagine a world where all school-age children own a laptop computer, even those living in villages lacking power and telephone service. Nicholas Negroponte has, and his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) non-profit has propelled this vision into the real world. With backing from News Corporation and Google, among others, Negroponte has begun to line up millions of orders from Brazil, Thailand, Egypt, China and South Africa. Even the United Nations has bestowed its imprimatur on the concept. Negroponte's prototype computer is a "skinnied down" version of what he describes as the typical "obese" laptop. Remove sales and marketing costs, and set the machine up with a 7.5" screen, Linux software, a hand crank for power, rugged rubber case, and super bright display so "it can be taken into the sun and read like a book," and you've got a very inexpensive tool for helping 800 million children explore, interact and create. Don't fret about connectivity; the Media Lab's got that covered: each laptop becomes a "node in the mesh" of other local users, creating a novel network perfect for remote locations. For email and web browsing, just two MB can serve 1,000 kids, says Negroponte. The key to churning out these cheap educational devices is volume -- and the more countries that join the bandwagon, the sleeker and less expensive the computers are likely to be. Negroponte casts a wary eye on the potential grey market appeal of the machines, and is determined to make them so distinctive as a government-distributed, educational tool that taking one would "be like stealing a post office truck." Negroponte concludes, "Changing education on the planet is a monumental challenge," taking decades. But OLPC will "seed the change," and help "invent the future."About the Speaker(s): Nicholas P. Negroponte has been on the MIT faculty since 1966. He was the founder of the Architecture Machines Group. In 1995, he published the bestseller Being Digital, which was translated into more than 40 languages. Negroponte was a founder of Wired Magazine, and serves on the board of directors for Motorola, Inc. He has been an 'angel investor' in more than 40 start-ups. Host(s): Office of the Provost, Technology ReviewTape #: t-20299-t-20304

Muhammad Yunus: Ending Global Poverty

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank; 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS Imagine a bank that loans money based on a borrower's desperate circumstances -- where, as Muhammad Yunus says, "the less you have, the higher priority you have." Turning banking convention on its head has accomplished a world of good for millions of impoverished Bangladeshis, as the pioneering economist Yunus has demonstrated in the last three decades. What began as a modest academic experiment has become a personal crusade to end poverty. Yunus reminds us that for two-thirds of the world's population, "financial institutions do not exist." Yet, "we've created a world which goes around with money. If you don't have the first dollar, you can't catch the next dollar." It was Yunus' notion, in the face of harsh skepticism, to give the poorest of the poor their first dollar so they could become self-supporting. "We're not talking about people who don't know what to do with their lives '.They're as good, enterprising, as smart as anybody else." His Grameen Bank spread from village to village as a lender of tiny amounts of money (microcredit), primarily to women. Yunus heard that "all women can do is raise chickens, or cows or make baskets. I said, 'Don't underestimate the talent of human beings.' " No collateral is required, nor paperwork just an effort to make good and pay back the loan. Now the bank boasts 5 million borrowers, receiving half a billion dollars a year. It has branched out into student loans, health care coverage, and into other countries. Grameen has even created a mobile phone company to bring cell phones to Bangladeshi villages. Yunus envisions microcredit building a society where even poor people can open "the gift they have inside of them." About the Speaker(s): Muhammad Yunus made his first loan of $27 to a group of 42 Bangladeshi village women, to help free them from debt to moneylenders and allow them to build their furniture business. He established the Grameen Bank in 1983 to help millions of Bangladeshis escape from poverty. The bank now has branches in more than 36 thousand Bangladeshi villages and in other countries. Yunus, a Fulbright Scholar, earned a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1969. Yunus has received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1984) from Manila; the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1989) from Geneva; the Mohamed Shabdeen Award for Science (1993) from Sri Lanka; and the World Food Prize by World Food Prize Foundation (1994) from the US. His autobiography, Banker to the Poor, was published in 1998. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Poverty Action Lab Event date: 09/14/2005

Forced Labor in the Globalized World

Sat, 14 May 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Before buying your next chocolate bar or sweatshirt, bear in mind its potential hidden cost: the forced labor of an impoverished worker.

Institutions, Geography, and Growth

Sat, 05 Jun 2004 04:00:00 GMT

06/05/2004 3:00 PM WongRoberto Rigobon, PhD '97, Professor of Economics; Description: 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."About the Speaker(s): Roberto Rigobon researches international economics, monetary economics, and development economics. He is a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a visiting professor at IESA, Venezuela. He joined Sloan in 1997 and has twice won the "Teacher of the Year" award and the "Excellence in Teaching." He received his Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1997, an M.B.A. from IESA (Venezuela) in 1991, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela. Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of ManagementTape #: T18786, 18787, 18788

Rhetoric or Reality: Civil Rights Under Siege

Thu, 05 Feb 2004 05:00:00 GMT

02/05/2004 7:30 AM WalkerDr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD '80, Economist, authorDescription: In this keynote address, Julianne Malveaux takes deadly aim at the hypocrisy she finds in many sectors of American society including exploitation of low wage workers and legacy admissions policies. She states: "Dr. King has become such a hero that Walmart takes out full page ads claiming that, 'We too have a dream.' A corporation that doesn't pay peopleEURreasonable wages, locks people up in a building all nightEURWhat dream?" "When Mr. Bush went to Yale and said, "You, too, can be president with a C average"...yeah, only if you have no melanin in your skin." Malveaux sees the U.S. virtually inhaling the rest of the world's resources, treating other cultures with arrogance, and then wondering why we're the targets of terrorism. She links our nation's contempt for other countries and our historic neglect of the poor at home: "Have we learned from September 11th? 'We came together as a nation but now we're back to the old ways'. We have 10 million Americans who earn less than $5.15 an hour, who haven't had a raise since 1996". What Dr. King was really after, insists Malveaux, was a full-fledged, "in your face" war on poverty and racism. Today, she wonders, "Who here has the audacity to change things?" About the Speaker(s): Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and commentator. Her work appears regularly in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms., Essence, and The Progressive. Her weekly columns appear in numerous newspapers across the country including The Los Angeles Times, and The Detroit Free Press. She is a frequent commentator on television programs such as PBS's "To The Contrary", and ABC's "Politically Incorrect". She is the editor of Voices of Vision: African American Women on the Issues (1996); the co-editor of Slipping Through the Cracks: The Status of Black Women (1986), and of The Paradox of Loyalty: An African American Response to the War on Terrorism (Third World Press, 2002). ). She is most recently the co-author of Unfinished Business: A Democrat and A Republican Take On the 10 Most Important Issues Women Face (Perigee Trade, 2002.) Dr. Malveaux received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in economics from Boston College, and earned a Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1980. She taught at San Francisco University from 1981 to 1985 and served as visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1985 to 1992.Host(s): Office of the President, MIT Annual Breakfast Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Tape #: T18161

Why is there No Class Warfare in the US? American Exceptionalism and Inequality

Wed, 23 Apr 2003 04:00:00 GMT

04/23/2003 3:00 PM 3-442Chuck Collins, co-founder and Program Director of United for a Fair Economy and Responsible WealthDescription: In this talk, Collins discusses the economic impact of the (then) proposed and (now) passed into law Bush tax cut, and issues around distribution of wealth. United for a Fair Economy is a national non-partisan organization that draws attention to the dangerous consequences of growing income and wealth inequality in the US and inspires action to reduce economic inequality. About the Speaker(s): Chuck Collins is the co-founder and Program Director of United for a Fair Economy and Responsible Wealth in Boston. He is co-author of several books about economic inequality including Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity. His latest book, co-authored with William Gates, Sr., is Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes (2003). Mr. Collins holds a B.A. in History & Economics from Hampshire College (1984) and an M.B.A. in Community Economic Development from New Hampshire College (1987).Host(s): Office of the Provost, Program on Human Rights and JusticeTape #: #T15754

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