Please Go Away

With my impending travel, I’ve decided that I might start writing things for you to read again. However, these things will now reside on fifteenminutes.co.nz, a combined blog with some of my ex-Wellington mates that now live everywhere and anywhere except Wellington. I make no promises on frequency or quality (I think if I simply do better than Dust Off The Bookshelf I’ll be happy), but if you’re interested, here is no longer the place to visit.

So please go away.

An Invisible Divide

[ CHAPTER TWO | The End of Poverty ]

Borders are funny things. Aside from the various ceremonies conducted at them, the idea that an imaginary line defines one nation, one law, and one people, from another is a little absurd. And to think of the patriotism and passion that this imaginary line can arouse in a person. Consider the historical divide between India and Pakistan; geographically metres away, but at times relationally worlds apart. And I need not remind you of what happens when different countries meet on the sports field, even if they are from opposite sides of the world.

Recently, a friend of mine has been experiencing this divide first hand. In a post chronicling his trip to Mexico and the USA, my flatmate and daily-routine buddy, Scottie Reeve, wrote the following: “Grass and vegetation in the slums is non-existent, yet only half an hour across the border suburban lawns sprout lush crops of green grass. I’ve spent time in crowded homes which stench with the smell of many people, yet in the same day walked through air-conditioned shopping centres which seem to stretch for acre upon acre.”

Isn’t that absurd? I wonder, how close do the poor have to become before we begin to experience compassion? Another continent, a few kilometres across the border, or on our doorstep?

What I’ve been learning as I read through The End of Poverty is that until two hundred years ago geographical borders were not also lines of wealth. Everybody was poor. Whether it be India, Pakistan, America, Mexico, New Zealand, France, or Africa. By today’s standards, even with purchasing power parity adjustment, we were all in the same boat.

What two hundred years, agricultural breakthrough, coal, the steam engine, and industrialisation can do to a country eh? Starting in Britain, due to a number of key conditions, modern economic growth swept throughout the western world. Since 1820, world population increased six-fold. Gross world product increased forty-nine fold. Western Europe’s per capita income increased fifteen-fold, and the US twenty-five-fold. We’re talking enough exponential graphs to make a stats teacher go dizzy.

Sure, all regions have experienced growth in the last two centuries. Just some countries have experienced higher and more consistent growth. And over that period of time consistency counts for a lot. A difference of 1% per year can propel one country to the heights of economic glory, leaving other nations catching their breath in an attempt to chase them down. It’s exactly the same principle as compound interest, just with a lot more money.

So, the question remains, why the rocket increase in some areas, but not others? As Jeffrey Sachs puts it, “The crucial puzzle for understanding today’s vast inequalities, therefore, is to understand why different regions of the world have grown at different rates during the period of modern economic growth.”

Your thoughts?

Economic Snakes and Ladders

[ CHAPTER ONE | The End of Poverty ]

Ignorance is bliss. That is, until you catch a whiff of truth. At which point you’re thrown into an endless whirlwind trying to discover more of whatever that truth may be. We find this law at work in science, spirituality, and worst of all, women. I fear I’m embarking on such an adventure with looking into global poverty.

I’m probably not the first to admit I’m ignorant. Actually, I’d rather not talk about it. Suffice to say, poverty used to sit in a couple of little boxes stored away in my mind. One was labelled ‘Africa’, the other had something to do with ‘flies and no food’, but the label’s kind of been peeling away for a little while now. After a little bit of thinking, I’ve not only torn off the labels, but thrown the whole blasted box system out the window. We’re talking ladders baby, snakes and ladders.

According to Jeffrey Sachs, “economic development is a ladder with higher rungs representing steps up the path to economic well-being.” Surprisingly, those steps are more straight forward than you’d think. And once a country is on this ladder they usually keep moving on up the rungs, even if it is at a painfully slow pace. This is precisely why we’ve seen a worldwide increase in the numbers of moderate poor (those living on between US$1 and $2 per day) since the early 80s – the extreme poor are becoming the moderate poor, or to put faces on the figures, the farmers are becoming sweatshop workers. This is marked progress.

The crippling factor and crucial concern for our time is that much of the world can’t seem to get a foot on this ladder of economic development. For one reason or another, they are stuck in a rut, living from hand to mouth. They labour and work the land, but disease, hunger and bad farming practice inhibit their productivity.

Contrary to what you may have heard, for most of these people (what we call the extreme poor, those living on less than US$1 a day), economic development is within reach. A little bit of training and help, and they can grow enough produce not only for their family, but for others. The agricultural industry becomes large enough to feed the whole community. Families start providing minor goods and services. Specialisation increases. The economy grows.

It’s a glorious healing process for these ravaged lands, and maybe I’m too optimistic to believe it to be this simple. But it makes sense, doesn’t it? Have a think about history. What was the economic state of the western world like 100 years ago, and what is it like now? Fill in the gaps as to how we got to where we are and you may just surprise yourself with a workable answer to the problems of our age.

The Bono Ultimatum

[ FOREWORD | The End of Poverty ]

I can hear it already. Seeds of doubt are blossoming as you wonder which inane U2 fact I’m going to subtly reference, or what inspiring Paul Hewson sound bite I’ll infer as gospel. “It’s all been said before,” the thoughts spin in your head. “Does the world really need another article about Bono?”

Well, not if he’s writing them himself.

Those four, bold, red letters on the cover of The End of Poverty represent a man you either love, hate… or are largely indifferent about. Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, he must be a pretty big deal. Case in point, his name on the cover is exactly the same font size as author Jeffrey Sachs (yes, I used a ruler). Bono wrote three pages in this book. Sachs wrote the other 413. Pretty good deal if you ask me. There’s a lesson in there somewhere about working smarter…

You’ll find many take the moral high ground with such a blatant use of celebrity to promote a product. From a straight marketing perspective, piggy backing is smart. And, as we are coming to learn, smart marketers are the enemy of the educated consumer.

In most cases I’d be happy to join the celeb bashing. Give me five minutes and I’ll rip into all your heroes for going political, selling out, and stealing third world kids. However this time, I’m willing to let it slide. And not because I like Bono. Rather, if more people will buy a book about poverty alleviation because some Irish rocker with a messianic complex spits out a few hundred words in it, then why not?

First off, if people are just buying it for the foreword, they’re consumerist idiots, and secondly, some of these idiots may be drawn into a read which they otherwise would have disregarded. Besides, by the way Bono talks up Jeffrey Sachs in his treatise, you’d assume most readers would be at least a little interested in what the economist has to say. It’s a win-win situation, really.

So lay off Bono – it’s not his real name anyway.

BACKGROUND | The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs

Whenever I go back to my home in New Plymouth I am not only inundated by hugs and kisses, tasty meals and requests to return more often, but hundreds upon hundreds of books that stare at me with a faint charm, silently petitioning, “READ ME.” My father’s book collection makes me nervous. Like a bad smorgasbord experience, I just want to down everything at once, but I know I’d get serious intellectual indigestion if I was to read in such haste.

Thankfully, last weekend Dad had something special for me. Knowing about my growing interest in poverty alleviation, he flicked me The End Of Poverty. Upon first glance, I didn’t think too much of it. Then I did a little research on the author.

Jeffrey Sachs is a ninja. “Probably the most important economist in the world,” according to the New York Times. He’s presently a Special Advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (and Kofi Annan before that), and has previously advised the IMF, World Bank, and World Health Organization among others. He heads up the UN Millennium Project. He’s the only academic to have been ranked as one of the world’s most influential people by Time Magazine. And to top things off, he’s currently the director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Need I say more?

Yes, I believe I do.

Let me share one example that expounds his abilities: Bolivia, 1985. Inflation had reached a whopping 20,000% per annum. By the time Mr. Sachs had done his dirty work in ’87, we’re looking at a meager 11%. He’s also had pretty major successes in Poland and Russia, and his hands have been in the pies of over 100 countries. This guy is a big deal. A bigger deal than Bono. This guy took Bono to school.

So, as you can see, I’m pretty excited. I’ve always thought about poverty from more of a humanitarian perspective than an economic one, but I’m hoping this book will widen my horizons. I’m also weary that I need to be cautious of blindly accepting Jeffrey Sachs’ word as gospel. Already from a little bit of peripheral reading, I can see that there is contention over his philosophy.

Let’s start the journey.

The Facts

Title: The End Of Poverty
Author: Jeffrey Sachs
Publisher: Penguin Books
Foreword: Bono
Price: NZD$29.95 (Whitcoulls New Zealand)
Pages: 416

The first real post

Born in the 80s, I am no stranger to the internet. From a young age I had my own ICQ account, mastered, well, the basics of Q Basic, and even created a personal website with the plan to supply the world with only the best Playstation cheats. Yes readers, MrMoo4U, as they used to call me, was totally tech savvy.

Then blogging came, and I completely missed the boat. Millions upon millions of wannabe stars flooded the internet in hope of literary glory. A couple of years later, and some have achieved their dreams; the rest are hidden in their subcultural huddles scattered throughout blogosphere.

And now I feel like I’m missing out.

So I did it. I gave in. I started a damn blog. Go on, call me Ian Imitation. I don’t care, because as many young men have said to their prospective girlfriend’s fathers, I have honourable intentions. I guess, like the aforementioned, only time will tell the real truth.

Down to the nitty gritty, for those wondering what on earth I’m going to talk about here, I will be (as the header conveniently explains) “walking through the literary world, one blog at a time.” For the simple minded, I plan to read a book, and per chapter or thereabouts, blog about what I am learning or what I am thinking.

To begin, Jeffrey Sach’s The End Of Poverty. More on that soon.

Joining the blogosphere

I am here…