I was teaching in one of the universities while the country was suffering from a severe famine. People were dying of hunger, and I felt very helpless. As an economist, I had no tool in my tool box to fix that kind of situation.
Nothing is quite as beautiful as farmers harvesting their rice.
Human beings are extremely creative and resilient, especially when they are operating within an institutional framework that encourages and supports their actions.
When a crisis is at its deepest, it can offer a huge opportunity. When things fall apart, we can redesign, recast, and rebuild.
I would define development by focusing on the quality of life of the lower 25 percent of the population. This.
There are many ways for people to die, but somehow dying of starvation is the most unacceptable of all. It happens in slow motion. Second by second, the distance between life and death becomes smaller and smaller, until the two are in such close proximity that one can hardly tell the difference.
In Bangladesh, if a woman, even a rich woman, wants to borrow money from a bank, the manager will ask her, ‘Did you discuss this with your husband?’ And if she answers, ‘Yes,’ the manager will say, ‘Is he supportive of your proposal?’ If the answer is still, ‘Yes,’ he will say, ‘Would you please bring your husband along so that we can discuss it with him?’ But no manager would ever ask a prospective male borrower whether he has discussed the idea of a loan.
In the United States I saw how the market liberates the individual and allows people to be free to make personal choices.
Analyses of the causes of poverty focus largely on why some countries are poor rather than on why certain segments of the population live below the poverty line.
To me, it doesn’t make sense. The poorest of the poor work twelve hours a day. They need to sell and earn income to eat. They have every reason to pay you back, just to take another loan and live another day! That is the best security you can have – their life.” The manager shook his head. “You are an idealist, Professor. You live with books and theories.” “But.
The able-bodied poor don’t want or need charity. The dole only increases their misery, robs them of incentive and, more important, of self-respect.
Yes, they will. They do. Unlike the rich, the poor can’t risk not repaying. This is the only chance they have.” The.
The poor,” I said, “are very creative. They know how to earn a living and how to change their lives.
All they need is opportunity.
Mother always put money away for any poor relatives who visited us from distant villages. It was she, by her concern for the poor and the disadvantaged, who helped me discover my interest in economics and social reform. Mother.
Human beings are not just workers, consumers, or even entrepreneurs. They are also parents, children, friends, neighbors, and citizens. They worry about their families, care about the communities where they live, and think a lot about their reputations and their relationships with others. For.
Human beings are much more complex than just being instruments for making money.
We need to recognize the real human being and his or her multifaceted desires. In order to do that, we need a new type of business that pursues goals other than making personal profit – a business that is totally dedicated to solving social and environmental problems. In.
By the time the war was over, Bangladesh was a devastated country. The economy was shattered. Millions of people needed to be rehabilitated. I knew that I had to return home and participate in the work of nation building. I thought I owed it to myself.
There is no room in the economic literature for people making a living through self-employment, finding way to develop goods or services that they sell directly to those who need them. But in the real world, that’s what you see the poor doing everywhere.
I try to kind of enlightened my frustration and agony by coming to the conclusion that I may not be useful as an economist but I m still a basic human being. I can juts go out and stand next to human being. And see if there s anything I can do to another person. Even for a day if it is help pay for more a day I feel more a little bit better.