Here’s your Saturday morning reading…
1. Where everyone in the world is migrating—in one gorgeous chart | Quartz – Nick Stockton
Because charts are cool.
“A few other noteworthy results:
1) The largest regional migration is from Southeast Asia to the Middle East. This is largely driven by the huge, oil-driven, construction booms happening on the Arabian Peninsula.
2) The biggest flow between individual countries is the steady stream from Mexico to the US. (In fact, the US is the largest single migrant destination)
3) There’s a huge circulation of migrants among sub-Saharan African countries. This migration dwarfs the number leaving Africa, but the media pay more attention the latter because of the austerity-driven immigration debates in Europe.”
2. 5 Reasons Poverty Porn Empowers the Wrong Person | Emily from Charm City – Emily Roenigk
“As we often do with the objectification of women, we need to pause and ask ourselves whether it is ethical to depict the graphic qualities of a human being to Western audiences for the sole purpose of eliciting an emotional experience and ultimately, money.”
“1. Poverty porn misrepresents poverty
2. Poverty porn leads to charity, not activism.
3. Poverty porn misrepresents the poor
4. Poverty porn deceives the helper and the helped
5. Poverty porn works.”
3. 23 things they don’t tell you about Ha-Joon Chang | Emergent Economics – Dan Gay
A good balanced critique of an influential development thinker.
“I love it when an author reveals conventional wisdom as groupthink.”
“I’ve always thought of Chang as brilliant but blinkered by the success of his native South Korea.”
“Dozens of countries will never industrialise. They’re too small, too far away from big markets and global trade in physical products has become so liberal that these least developed countries stand no chance of getting on the ladder, never mind it being kicked away.”
4. The World Bank tackles Mind and Culture: heads up on the next World Development Report | From Poverty to Power – Duncan Green
“The central argument of the Report is that policy design that takes into account psychological and cultural factors will achieve development goals faster. The main tools — affecting prices through taxes, subsidies, and investments; regulating and legislating; and providing information — all remain relevant. But once considered from the perspectives of bounded rationality, social norms, and cultural categories, each tool becomes more complex and more nuanced.”
Duncan explores whether this potentially exciting report will be a game changer or be diluted to the extent it loses its core message.
This is also posted on the London International Development Network where we’ve just welcomed our 1500th member.