Selected for the Global Economic Symposium 2011

Poor households in developing countries face a number of risks. As access to formal insurance and credit markets is limited, they need to rely on informal strategies in order to reduce these risks ex ante and cope with shocks once they have materialized. One empirically relevant risk reduction strategy is income diversification. In addition to diversifying income, poor households generally choose low-risk, low-return activities. In particular, households tend to be reluctant in adapting new technologies which prevents them from exploiting their full production potential. If adverse shocks occur despite these risk reduction efforts, poor households often have to rely on support from relatives and friends or sell their financial and non-financial assets. These strategies might be effective in case of idiosyncratic shocks like illness or job loss. They fail, however, in case of aggregate shocks like drought or hurricanes that affect the whole environment.

Wie am 5. April 2011 von AFP verbreitet wurde, hat das  oberste Gericht von Bangladesch die Entlassung von Friedensnobelpreisträger Muhammad Yunus als Direktor der von ihm gegründeten Grameen-Bank bestätigt.

Yunus Geschäftsmodell ist inzwischen nicht mehr unumstritten. So handelt ein Feature von Gerhard Klas,  das in den letzten Monaten vom DLF und auf verschiedenen Kanälen der ARD unter dem Titel “Ein Märchen aus Bangladesch : Mikrokredite gegen Armut” gesendet wurde, auch von dessen Schattenseiten. 

Selected for the Global Economic Symposium 2010

The GES Working Group on State Building will have two related goals: first, to reach consensus on how the international community can best contribute to state building in developing countries; and second, based on that consensus, to propose a series of practical projects that the GES network can undertake.

State building — the strengthening of the legitimacy, robustness, and resilience of the state — has steadily marched up the international community’s agenda in recent years. Unfortunately, however, the most common state-building prescriptions — such as more aid, competitive elections, and economic reform — do not seem to work well in practice. The roots of state fragility lie in the combination of weak social cohesion and feeble state institutions. International action to combat fragility, therefore, should be first and foremost about encouraging institutional changes that foster a stronger sense of unity and a stronger sense of local ownership. Finding the right balance between decentralization and centralization is key, as is the use and development of indigenous capacities. Countries must be given the ability to solve their own problems.