China's attitude towards Africa was apparent in a slogan at a summit on Africa in Beijing. Photo: stephenrwalli (flickr)

Deborah Brautigan doesn't argue with critics who call China's interest in Africa self-serving. But she may be one of the first American academics to declare that China's deeds will be good for Africa, too.

It's an argument she expands in The Dragon's Gift, a new book analyzing the development of China's Africa policies over the last few decades.

Brautigan asserts that China's investments are integrating African countries into the global economy more quickly because, unlike Western countries, the nation invests in an array of industries. In Angola, for example, China has built roads, schools, hospitals, and irrigation systems in the country's interior — even though its oil wealth is far offshore. Brautigan also cites a telling remark by a Nigerian diplomat: "The Chinese are trying to get involved in every sector of our economy. If you look at the West, it's oil, oil, oil and nothing else."

And on a continent rife with corruption, China's style of development actually leaves less room for embezzlement than does the World Bank model, points out a book review in The Morning Star. Rather than funneling money through potentially corrupt government officials, China pays Chinese companies to head up infrastructure projects.

Brautigan acknowledges that China's behavior in Africa is sometimes far from saintly. Some have complained that Chinese companies do not respect local labor laws, as happened at a mine in Congo, and others worry that Chinese companies will have a negative environmental impact on the continent.

While not negligible, Brautigan sees these violations as small in comparison to what China's investments could mean for Africa, and in comparison to the failed promise of other foreign aid there. As an AidWatchers review noted, this "book seeks to compare Chinese aid to Western aid as it really is, not as we wish it were."

OLPC instructors teach students how to use their laptops in Kigali, Rwanda. Photo: cellanr (flckr)

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame wants to secure a piece of the growing technology market that has already brought so much change to sub-Saharan Africa, and he’s starting young.

Kagame recently announced that he would provide a laptop for every child in his country between the ages of six and 18, reports The Economist. The magazine suggests the move is based on both economic as well as educational motives: The President has made it clear that he intends to have 50,000 computer programmers by 2020 as a result of the laptop program.

To reach that goal, he is working with the American non-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC), an organization that is the first of its kind to provide durable and affordable laptops to many in the developing world. According to their website they believe (as I do) that a laptop can be a key for children to engage in their own education more fully than traditional rote learning. OLPC claims their laptops offer a way for the user to connect with both their local and greater communities in order to expose them to a world that is often not available.

The more practical economic benefits of such a program are also apparent. The president has already purchased 100,000 laptops from OLPC, according to the Economist, and plans to buy 1.2 million more as early as 2012. Over the long term, the initiative will create more jobs for computer teachers and repairmen.
And Government agencies and businesspeople have already started programs to help educate a computer-savvy population reports The New Times of Kigali.

Understandably, the plan has been criticized by many who think the money would be better spent on more visible and perhaps more necessary projects for the impoverished nation, including food distribution, health care subsidies and infrastructure development. Although the country must never lose focus on these persistent problems, there must also be room for the Rwandan Government to take risks on other fronts. The overall benefits of education are difficult to quantify but are nevertheless unquestionably valuable. Technology markets are on the rise throughout Africa, and President Kagame doesn't seem to want to let this opportunity pass.

It will be necessary to rebuild textile factories like this one in Haiti, as well as build more of them. Photo: NewsHour (flickr)

For aid workers and development experts, simply restoring Haiti to its pre-quake conditions will not be enough. Even before the earthquake about half of the population did not have access to clean water and 90 percent of children suffered from water-born illnesses, reported PRI.

What will it take for conditions to improve? Many argue that a robust private sector will be a key part of the country's long-term recovery and ascent out of poverty. As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof opined, "Haiti desperately needs new schools and hospitals, but also new factories." The government services and infrastructure that NGOs and development agencies will help rebuild may provide the groundwork for a healthy economy, but their efforts cannot by themselves make it grow.

The country actually has several factors that amount to unusually good conditions for economic development, argued a report for the UN last year. Unlike many disaster zones, Hait's neighboring countries are stable, while its political leadership "is good by the standards of most post-conflict situations." Haiti's wealthy expatriate community in the U.S. and Canada funnel cash and investments there. (They contributed approximately $1.3 billion in 2008.) Some types of investment look particularly auspicious: Haiti's special trade agreements with the U.S. mean it can export goods there duty-free, making the country "the world’s safest production location for garments," while the labor it would provide manufacturers is the cheapest in the region. Significant barriers to economic growth remain, but Haiti has some often-overlooked advantages in the struggle to recover.

China's carbon-capture technologies help reduce emissions from coal plants. Photo: ishmatt (flickr)

At first glance, China appears to be exacerbating global climate change. The world's most populous country is the fastest growing industrial economy and the single biggest source of carbon emissions.

On the other hand, China may be helping green the world by making environmentally friendly technologies more affordable, says The Wall Street Journal.

China's vast market and economies of scale are bringing down the cost of solar and wind energy, as well as other environmentally friendly technologies such as electric car batteries. That could help address a major impediment to wide adoption of such technologies: They need heavy subsidies to be economical.

In other words, manufacturing anything in China makes it cheaper, and that applies to green technologies, too. That's been a major factor in the 30-percent drop in the price of solar panels over the past year, reported NPR.

The WSJ goes on to note that the country's research into carbon-capture technologies is also cutting-edge, working on procedures that could cut down on emissions from coal plants by storing some of the carbon produced underground rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. Manufacturers in developed countries are already interested in how they can apply it to their own facilities.

It's hard for any country to make the switch to greener energy sources, but if China succeeds in fostering innovation and cutting technology costs, the process could make the transition easier for countries all over the world.

Cell phones are touching the lives of Tajikistani women in many ways. Photo: Kate B Dixon (flickr)

Technology, migrant labor, and patriarchy: three world systems that bring benefits to some have become a tragic combination for the Tajik women whose husbands are divorcing them remotely via text message, reports Radio Free Europe.

Tajikistan's struggling economy means that as many as one in seven Tajiks works abroad, often spending most of the year away. The country is also heavily dependent on the remittances that constitute half of its GDP. If migrant men decide to divorce their wives back home, some do so via cell phone by texting the word "talaaq," Arabic for "divorce." In Sunni Islam, saying the word three times is a recognized way for men to end their marriages.

Migrant Tajiks are largely beyond the reach of their country's laws. Neither text messages nor "talaaq" are legal methods of divorce there (unlike in other countries like Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, where courts have sanctioned the combination), but courts can't enforce this or other divorce proceedings — like alimony payments — on an absent husband.

These Tajik women are often left without homes or means of support when their marriages end. Respite may only come when they are fully integrated into the legal system — to match their immersion in the technology that has already deeply touched their lives.

Samasource works with entrepreneurs in developing countries like Jon Grosier in Kenya. Photo: Appfrica (flickr)

Students around the world face a particular paradox these days: what's the good of an education if there's no work to be found afterward?

Samasource — a small non-governmental organization based in San Francisco, California — is hoping to change this. They are partnering with U.S. companies and connecting them with people looking for work in places like Kenya and Pakistan using a several different methods, among them crowd sourcing website called CrowdFlower through which workers are paid small amounts for tiny increments of work (such as a few cents for filling in one blank in a spreadsheet).

As Samasource tells it, it’s a win-win situation: the cheap labor allows U.S. firms to cut costs, while providing higher wages for their 500 or so beneficiaries than they would likely have earned otherwise. So far, Samasource has focused on work in developing countries like Kenya (where the organization works with Somali refugees), Zambia and Pakistan — but also plans to expand into Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S., notes the web magazine Reality Sandwich.

In all cases, Samasource's efforts hinge on the idea that work — not handouts — is what changes lives. "When you look at what the developing world really needs, it's a connection to markets," says Janah on the blog "Boing Boing." Markets provide an outlet for skills like English and computer literacy that students around the world have worked hard to obtain, and a livelihood for those who can put them to use.

Unemployment is already high in Mexico. It could be even higher if Mexican workers in the U.S. went back. Photo: Aneas (flickr)

Mexican workers often come to the United States to earn money and send it to their relatives back home. But NPR reports that as the U.S. economy has gotten worse, some of these worker's families are sending them money from Mexico.

It's a phenomenon that could have a positive economic impact: These reverse remittances, as they're called, allow the migrants to keep searching for higher-paying work than they could get in Mexico, explains an NPR report. These reverse remittances may also prevent a flood of returnees from further devastating Mexico's economy and increasing unemployment.

When the U.S. economy rebounds, these workers are well-positioned to start sending remittances back to their families again.
These remittances play a big roll in Mexico's economy — they're the country's second-largest source of foreign income.

Still, the total dollar amount of reverse remittances remains small in comparison to the traditional southward flow of cash and there is no reliable data about its overall volume, points out a World Bank report.

As one Mexican father of a migrant worker told the New York Times, “We have an obligation to help them [until they find work again]. They’re our sons. It doesn’t matter if they are here or there."

What will the growth of the Mongolian mining industry mean for the country's nomadic herders? Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Mongolia could soon be home to the largest copper mine in the world.

After years of negotiations, Western mining companies Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe are close to reaching an agreement with the Mongolian parliament to develop significantly the Oyu Tolgoi mine. Mineweb reports that the untapped deposit contains 78 billion pounds of copper and 45 million ounces of gold. If all goes to plan, the massive investment would double the size of Mongolia's economy and create thousands of jobs, according to NPR.

The economic crisis has hit Mongolia harder than most countries in East Asia. One in four people are out of work, NPR reports. The country’s nomadic herders – 40 percent of the population – are struggling after the price of cashmere dramatically declined earlier this year (see Manasi Sharma’s Downturn in the Gobi). Now, some are hailing Oyu Tolgoi as an immediate economic fix.

But there are several obvious challenges. First, Mongolia is highly corrupt. It is ranked 102 out of 180 countries in the latest Transparency International index, an annual rating of perceived levels of corruption (defined as the abuse of public office for private gain). Additionally, the editorial in Mineweb suggests that Russia and China may have inordinate influence over Mongolia’s mining industry. Given these two factors, how much will the average Mongolian gain?

Lastly, there are the social implications of this investment to consider. For many nomadic herders, shifting to industrial mining jobs is far from ideal, but there isn’t much else to turn to. People are desperate now that raw cashmere and other materials do not provide a reliable way to feed and clothe families. "They are losing their land, their animals, and even their culture," reported NPR’s Louisa Lim, "for a few specks of gold."

Popular vacation destinations are ready to give tourists what they're looking for, all that's missing now are the tourists themselves. Photo: Marvin (PA) (flickr)

Ah, summer. A time of rest, relaxation, meticulously planned vacations ... and this year, less travel.

One June report by a UN body predicted tourism would decline by 4 to 6 percent this year — and that's before the H1N1 virus further dampened travel.

Tourism is down even in the U.S., where tourists spent more money than anywhere else in 2008. But the downturn is worse across the Atlantic, according to an August Reuters story.

On Spain's popular Costa del Sol, tourist traffic is "the worst I have ever seen it," drink seller Pedro Hervas tells The Telegraph. "There is no one on the beach. If you came here last year at this time you would not be able to get around, there would be so many cars and people."

Analysts cited in a Wall Street Journal story on the battered Mediterranean tourism industry conclude that nations have yet to see the real effects of the tourism slump on economic growth.

"We are seeing a multifaceted impact from the crisis on the tourism sector and there will be a variety of consequences," Marko Mrsnik told the Journal. "These include employment consequences, consequences on the creditworthiness of households and companies in the sector and their ability to pay their debts, and it will certainly have an impact on government revenues."

In Greece about 19,000 jobs have been lost, people in the industry told The Wall Street Journal, and economists predict the lack of tourism could cut more than a percentage point off economic growth this year. According to the same Journal article, in Italy private-sector estimates of tourism-related job losses are as high as 150,000.

Some sunlight, however, has seeped through the dreary forecasts. After Iceland's economic meltdown made their currency more affordable, tourism spiked, and has continued to grow through the summer. North African countries such as Morocco and Algeria have also welcomed more visitors. Some of them are undoubtedly vacationing on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea for a change — or rather, to save some change.

Working in China seems to be an attrative option for many American graduates Photo: flickr(keso)

How far from home will you go for a job? For some people, the answer is "pretty far."

The New York Times reports a rise in the number of recent college graduates traveling from the U.S. to China in search of a decent job.

According to a recent New York Times article, "they are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.”

In the current job market, these graduates would be lucky to and a entry-level job in the U.S., but in China they stand a shot at higher-level jobs. Some more entrepreneurial types are starting their own businesses. And Chinese businesses seem to be quite pleased they're coming. Not only do they value their English language skills, but they also appreciate their general knowledge of Western culture.

A fruit farm in South Africa. Photo: flickr (Harris S)

Do you have ideas that might help African farmers be more successful?

If so, a new Peace Corps initiative called African Rural Connect, or ARC, wants to know about it.

Through its website, ARC hopes to connect people with ideas to the development community and even the farmers themselves. The site is relatively new, but a solar-powered irrigation system and an easy-to-build and inexpensive grain silo are just two examples of recent ideas.

ARC explains:

The humblest farmer can have the idea with the greatest impact. We believe there is untapped collective wisdom that just needs a space to ignite. This is a growing movement... No idea is too grand — no contribution is too small. Share your story — we will hear you.

It's ideas like these that fit the bill for the grassroots approach U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hopes will help African farmers improve their agricultural capacity, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

To help kick things off, ARC is offering a contest for the best idea. The winner gets $20,000 — and some help from development experts — to put their idea into practice.

Mexian fans celebrate a goal. In soccer-centric countries such as Mexico, winning a soccer match can represent more than just a victory on the field. Photo: ++Frank++ (flickr)

Mexico's finance secretary recently warned that falling oil prices and production may lead to the nation's worst recession in 30 years.

But on Wednesday, economic worries took a backseat to Mexico's World Cup qualifying match against the United States, which many Mexicans viewed as more than just a soccer match.

“This was life or death for the whole country,” Kurt Vogt, a Mexican supporter, told The New York Times, which headlined their article about Mexico's 2-1 victory, "Mexico Restores Order to Its Universe."

Not only did Mexico's World Cup 2010 hopes rest on the outcome of the match, as well as an impressive home unbeaten streak — they're 23-0-1 against the U.S. at Azteca Stadium — but the country's hard-hit ego and slumping economy stood to gain substantially as well.

“It's incredible how it effects our emotions and our economy — one game,” said Eliseo “Papo” Santos, a former professional player and coach told Mark Zeigler of The San Diego Union-Tribune. “Not qualifying for the World Cup, it would be devastating for us. It'll bring your country down big time.”

This isn't just a gut feeling — it's "soccernomics." The Union-Tribune's Zeigler points out that after Italy won the World Cup in 2006 its gross domestic product grew by 2 percent, after two years of zero growth.

No wonder both Mexico and the U.S. played their recent World Cup qualifier as if it was the championship match.

By allowing Wal-Mart to sell only to wholesalers, the Indian government hopes to protect smaller merchants like the one shown here. Photo: (nz)dave (flickr)

Wal-Mart has long been a source of controversy, but the July opening of the chain's first store in India was greeted relatively warmly and drew huge crowds in its opening days, the Washington Post reports.

Wal-Mart India isn't the same as the American version. The store goes by the name Best Price Modern Wholesale, which reflects the fact that Wal-Mart India is a joint venture with Indian business conglomerate Bharti Enterprises. Another difference is that the store is open only to wholesale customers like hotel and restaurant owners, and their friends and family. Time reports that India's commercial laws prevent international retailers from directly competing with domestic businesses.

The flagship store is located in Amritsar, in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab. The arrival of Wal-Mart has created curiosity and interest, which the Washington Post highlights through one customer's reaction:

"In Punjabi, we have an expression: When there is a wedding, everyone flocks to see the new bride," said Kamal Gambhir, a wholesaler whose congested offices are located in this city's oldest bazaar. "I myself had returned from a trip and came back to hear little children asking, 'Where is the new Wal-Mart?' I told them it's on our most historic road."

As the largest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart has raised concerns in India about the store's consequences for smaller retailers and the vendors found in community markets. According to American Public Media's "Marketplace," some worry Wal-Mart's presence will raise business owners' profits while less-connected and poorer members of society are hurt by the new competition.

Wal-Mart says it will build 10 to 15 stores in India over the next three years.

Photo: blentely(flickr)

We may be in the midst of global recession, but if countries react by curbing their trade with each other, it will only hurt the poorest among them.

That's the gist of the message delivered by Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization, in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

History tells us that no poor country has ever become wealthy without trade, Moreover, many developing country success stories — Singapore, South Korea, Chile, China and Malaysia, to name only a few — have, in recent decades, seen their national incomes grow by a percentage point or more per year as a result of open trade policies than would [not] have been the case had they remained closed. The extra funds generated during this period have enabled them to respond to the crisis with stimulus packages that have prevented the crisis from turning into a protracted recession with its inevitable human costs.

In 2005, the WTO adopted an initiative called "Aid for Trade" to support and encourage trade. The initiative does two things: It funds infrastructure projects like roads and electrical grids, and trains exporters on how to comply with the safety and quality standards of other countries.

This week the WTO is convening in Geneva with select development banks and aid organizations for Aid for Trade's annual review. In his Wall Street Journal opinion piece Lamy tells us that, "we have to make sure [Aid for Trade] is more and more effective in helping developing countries overcome their economic difficulties. It's what people expect from us today."

"Greed is ok when you let others profit from it, but greed for oneself is bad, it makes you ill," the Dalai Lama said in an interview with Welt Online. Photo: Giandomenico Ricci (flickr)

At the beginning of July, two influential religious and spiritual leaders made statements within days of each other about the financial crisis and the responsibility of the wealthy to help the poor: Pope Benedict XVI and the Dalai Lama.

In the past month we have watched the world's wealthiest and most powerful meet to discuss the economic crisis and the future for the international community's poorest members. The WTO warned of the dangers of protectionism while meeting in Geneva. The UN announced that the number of hungry people now exceeds one billion worldwide. And the G-8 announced a $20-billion commitment to fight hunger when they convened in Italy for their annual summit. The comments by the Pope and the Dalai Lama seem particularly relevant considering these recent events.

On July 7, a letter written by Pope Benedict XVI was sent to all Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, entitled "Charity in Truth." In the letter the Pope questioned the value of today's corporations.

Today's international economic scene, marked by grave deviations and failures, requires a profoundly new way of understanding human enterprise. Without doubt, one of the greatest risks for business is that they are almost exclusively answerable to their investors, thereby limited in their social value.

Earlier in that same week, the Dalai Lama was interviewed by the German news site, Welt Online. In the interview the Dalai Lama talked about the role he sees for corporations and the wealthy to make a positive difference for the world's poor. When questioned about globalization, the Dalai Lama responded:

I am essentially a supporter of globalization. In the past societies and countries could seal themselves off from the rest of the world, but today this has become impossible. When we search for organizations that have the capacity and ability to improve our world, global companies are at the top of the list. In particular integrated global corporations are in an ideal position to support developing countries to close the gap to leading national economies.

He also talked about greed as a root cause of the financial crisis, but was careful to note that wealth on its own "is not necessarily a bad thing."

Wealth is not necessarily a bad thing when it has been earned in an honest manner and neither other individuals nor the environment suffered for it. As Buddhists we recognize that wealth is a basic prerequisite for a happy life. But a billionaire also only has ten fingers. He can fit three or four rings on each finger, but that would look weird. The satisfaction many millionaires who don’t share their wealth have in their heads is fictitious and not real. Rich people should help reduce poverty.

Amid the flurry of black suits, interpreters and diplomatic cordiality we might usually associate with discussions of trade and economic policy, the sentiments expressed by Pope Benedict XVI and the Dalai Lama offer additional views about wealth and responsibility that are worthy of reflection.