Entry 1:
In Esther Duflo’s TED talk on social experiments to fight poverty, she discusses the very important idea that poverty may not be solved by simply throwing money at the problem. Her overall point is that charity drives, while well-meaning, can be temporary Band-Aids that do not address the systemic problems that many in the developing world have to deal with. Rather than helping starving people in Africa build up the infrastructure they need to be self-sustaining, or giving vaccinations, charity work simply assuages our own sense of guilt over our own privilege in the developed world. I found ...
