Trade and Development Blog

The following film will be shown at Hunter this Saturday Nov 22nd at 3pm in Hunter West room 714. I haven't seen the film myself so I cannot comment on it in much detail, but it features interviews with economists Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and a few others. The film would seem to offer a left-of-center perspective on the causes of world poverty, and a call to action to do something about it. It is narrated by actor Martin Sheen. More information about the film, including a trailer can be found here: http://www.theendofpoverty.net/

The New York Times ran a piece Saturday entitled "Congo's Riches Plundered by Renegade troops."   Violence in the Congo may seem senseless to outsiders, but it is far from random.  More often than not violence is for control over valuable resources.  The picture above is of tin mine workers in rebel controlled territory in an area of forest where  Col. Samy Matumo, commander of a renegade brigade of army troops that controls this mineral-rich territory, is the master of every hilltop as far as the eye can see ....On paper, the exploration rights to this mine belong to a consortium of British and South African investors who say they will turn this perilous and exploitative operation into a safe, modern beacon of prosperity for Congo. But in practice, the consortium’s workers cannot even set foot on the mountain. Like a mafia, Colonel Matumo and his men extort, tax and appropriate at will, draining this vast operation, worth as much as $80 million a year ....the ore these ...

HDI tables and statistics by country (with useful graphs and explanations) from the UNDP .  A good way to better understand the HDI index is to play with the  online HDI calculator