Why fighting corruption won’t end poverty

By Ricardo Hausmann

Jul 27 2015

Worldeconomicforum – Countries are poor because governments are corrupt. And, unless they ensure that public resources are not stolen, and that public power is not used for private gain, they will remain poor, right?

It certainly is tempting to believe so. Here, after all, is a narrative that neatly aligns the promise of prosperity with the struggle against injustice. As Pope Francis said on his recent trip to Latin America: “corruption is the moth, the gangrene of a people.” The corrupt deserve to be “tied to a rock and cast into the sea.”

Perhaps they do. But that won’t necessarily make their countries more prosperous. Tiếp tục đọc “Why fighting corruption won’t end poverty”

Business Operation Models for Solar Home Systems (SHS)

There are different ways of operating a Solar Home Systems (SHS) business.

Although each SHS program has unique characteristics, there are two general approaches to bringing Photovoltaic (PV) to customers in the developing world:

Open market approach

In the most common approach, described by the World Bank as the open market approach, there is a roughly unrestricted market in which PV dealers and developers can conduct direct sales and — with government, donor, and nongovernmental organization involvement — establish PV microcredit, leasing, or direct sale programs.

Contents

Overview

Energypedia – There are different ways of operating a Solar Home Systems (SHS) business. Tiếp tục đọc “Business Operation Models for Solar Home Systems (SHS)”

Heavy Rains in Vietnam Cause an Avalanche of Coal Waste, Threatening Communities and Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site

 wka edit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EndcoalQuang Ninh, Vietnam – July 30, 2015: Over the past two days, heavy seasonal rains in northeastern Vietnam have flooded local communities with industrial coal waste and threatened the safety of citizens, wildlife and the Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site.

Cam Pha City has already been flooded with an avalanche of coal mining waste and a second community is being evacuated (see map here). News photos and video footage from Cam Pha show men, women and children wading through thick mud contaminated with coal waste as they flee their homes.

The coal industry generates massive amounts of waste that can contain a wide array of materials dangerous to human health and the environment including heavy metals like arsenic, boron, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, selenium and thallium.

Tiếp tục đọc “Heavy Rains in Vietnam Cause an Avalanche of Coal Waste, Threatening Communities and Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site”

Vì sao năng lượng bền vững quan trọng với trẻ em – Why sustainable energy matters to Children

UNICEF report: The critical importance of sustainable energy for children and future generations

DOWNLOAD HERE – TẢI BÁO CÁO

Evidence shows that energy at household level, in the education, health and water sectors as well as for infrastructure services has a great influence on development results among children.

Beyond the Climate Refugee: Migration as Adaptation

Australia Drought

Globe-net: July 14, 2015  – Washington, D.C.—Between 2008 and 2013, some 140 million people were displaced by weather-related disasters; meanwhile, gradual displacements, such as those caused by droughts or sea-level rise, affected the lives of countless others.

These “climate refugees” have become the human face of global warming, their very movement seen as a threat to global security.

State of the World 2015 contributing author Francois Gemenne exposes the dangers of misrepresenting climate-induced migration as a decision of last resort, rather than as a choice in human adaptation (www.worldwatch.org).

“The conception of migrants solely as victims…might actually hinder their capacity to adapt, and induce inadequate policy responses”

“The conception of migrants solely as victims…might actually hinder their capacity to adapt, and induce inadequate policy responses,” writes Gemenne, executive director of the Politics of the Earth program at Sciences Po in Paris and a senior research associate with the University of Liège in Belgium. Tiếp tục đọc “Beyond the Climate Refugee: Migration as Adaptation”

Inside China’s shift to a low-carbon economy

Monday, July 27, 2015 – 2:00am

Monday, July 27, 2015 – 2:00am

Greenbiz – China’s announcement of how it plans to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions represents the clearest signal to date that a major structural shift away from carbon-intensive development is underway in the world’s second-largest economy.

The direction outlined by the Chinese government — to peak the country’s carbon-dioxide emissions around 2030 or likely earlier — is ground-breaking, both in the scale of proposed emissions reductions, and when viewed within the wider trend of substantial GHG reductions pledged by major economies. Tiếp tục đọc “Inside China’s shift to a low-carbon economy”

The case for connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia

The case for connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia

A new opportunity for South Asia–Southeast Asia integration

Asiapathways – adbi – The time is ripe for enhancing economic integration between South Asia and Southeast Asia. The new “normal” era of slow growth in advanced industrial economies following the global financial crisis suggests that Asian economies will need to rely more on domestic and regional demand to secure inclusive growth. The recent slowdown in growth in the People’s Republic of China suggests further grounds for tapping growth opportunities between South Asia and Southeast Asia. The move toward an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 and beyond will provide for a large and more integrated market with notable purchasing power and scale economies. This will facilitate the deepening of foreign direct investment-driven production networks and strengthen the role of ASEAN as a conductor of Asian regional integration. Tiếp tục đọc “The case for connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia”

What Utilities Want To See From Energy Entrepreneurs

Forbes – Energy startups can increase their chance of success by ensuring they offer a profit incentive to utilities, John Rowe, former CEO and chairman emeritus of Exelon said Wednesday in Chicago.

“Utilities are very obstinate creatures,” Rowe said at the Energy Thought Summit at Chicago’s Symphony Center. “We know how to say no, and we know how to say yes and then not do anything. We’re very good at inertia. And the reason for that is not that we’re enduringly stupid. Some of my favorite people run utilities. Tiếp tục đọc “What Utilities Want To See From Energy Entrepreneurs”

Economic benefits from climate change mitigation far outweigh the costs

Global-net – The paper published by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at London School of Economics and Political Science suggests that individual countries have large incentives to make ambitious reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to agree to strong collective action at the United Nations climate change conference in Paris in December.

The author of the paper, Fergus Green, says the vast majority of emissions cuts needed to decarbonize the global economy this century can lead to domestic economic benefits that outweigh the costs for individual countries, even before the avoided risks of dangerous climate change are taken into account.

Self Interest Pays

“All things considered, I conclude that there is a very strong case that most of the mitigation action needed to stay within the internationally-agreed 2°C limit is likely to be nationally net-beneficial,” he writes.

Domestic economic gains from action to tackle climate change include improved air quality, increased energy efficiency, and clean technology innovation ‘spillovers’.
Tiếp tục đọc “Economic benefits from climate change mitigation far outweigh the costs”

Optimism About Our Rising Standard of Living

Matthew E. Kahn – Arthur Brooks’ OP-ED focuses on the politics of optimism but I would prefer to recast his focus on what should be the basis of our optimism about our collective future.  In 2015, we live in a world with roughly 7.3 billion people whose life expectancy is higher than it has every been.  Educational attainment is higher than it has ever been. Urbanization both insulates us from climate shocks and facilitates trade and learning. Anticipating a longer life time and lower infant mortality, families are having fewer children and investing more in the human capital of each child. These children (through the dynamic complementarity mechanism of learning begets learning) are more likely than previous cohorts to achieve their full potential.  While many progressives yearn for a return to 1950s America, I have argued (see this post and this post) that those days were not as great as they recall and the rest of the world was not in terrific shape then (think of China). Tiếp tục đọc “Optimism About Our Rising Standard of Living”

Học sinh Việt Nam đánh bại học sinh Mỹ về điểm số thi, nhưng các nhà giáo dục Việt Nam chế giễu các bài thi

ENGLISH: Vietnam Wallops U.S. on Test Scores But Vietnamese Educators Scoff at Tests

 

Diane Ravitch Giáo sư nghiên cứu Giáo dục học, ĐH New York, tác giả ‘Reign of Error’
Huffington Post

STANDARDIZED TESTING

Theo bảng tóm tắt kết quả thi PISA mới được công bố gần đây, học sinh 15 tuổi Việt Nam có điểm số cao hơn các bạn đồng lứa ở Mỹ và hầu hết các nước châu Âu.

Một số người trong ngành truyền thông Mỹ cho rằng, điều này sẽ gióng lên một hồi chuông cảnh tỉnh, gây ra một nỗi sợ hãi và lo lắng nghiêm trọng về nguy cơ tụt hậu của Mỹ – “a Sputnik moment – (so với các nước).

Một tờ báo Việt Nam viết:

“Theo kết quả của một cuộc khảo sát toàn cầu về giáo dục, Việt Nam đứng thứ 12 trong tổng số 76 nền kinh tế, vượt trên cả Mỹ và rất nhiều nước châu Âu.

Bảng xếp hạng do các chuyên gia kinh tế học của OECD đặt ra dựa trên kết quả làm bài thi toán và khoa học của học sinh 15 tuổi. Mỹ đứng thứ 28 và hầu hết các nước châu Âu, bao gồm Đan Mạch, Thụy Điển và Anh đều không lọt được vào top 15. Tiếp tục đọc “Học sinh Việt Nam đánh bại học sinh Mỹ về điểm số thi, nhưng các nhà giáo dục Việt Nam chế giễu các bài thi”

Why Southeast Asia’s Refugee Crisis Matters

Thediplomat – For summer and fall 2015, The Diplomat presents “Southeast Asia: Refugees in Crisis,” a series of exclusive articles from scholars and practitioners tackling Southeast Asia’s ongoing refugee crisis. Launched with the help of former ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and designed with the assistance of students from Harvard University and Oxford University, the series aims to give the readers a sense of the various dimensions of this complex issue.

In our first piece, former ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and The Diplomat’s associate editor Prashanth Parameswaran launch the series with a framing article on the issue. 

In May 2015, thousands of Rohingya refugees from the Rakhine State of Myanmar and economic migrants from Bangladesh were found stranded in the Strait of Malacca off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. This was the start of the latest round of Southeast Asia’s refugee crisis. The image of the overcrowded, shabby boats full of people – haunted and hungry, faced with dwindling supplies of food and water – seized the world’s attention. Tiếp tục đọc “Why Southeast Asia’s Refugee Crisis Matters”

Global Renewable Energy Is Status Positive

Renewableenergyworld – The headline figure from the authoritative REN21 Renewables Global Status Report 2015 (GSR) states renewables accounted for more than 59 percent of all new electricity generating capacity installed worldwide during 2014. Tiếp tục đọc “Global Renewable Energy Is Status Positive”

Climate threat as grave a risk as nuclear war

Climate threat as grave a risk as nuclear war

Climatenewsnetwork – An international scientific report commissioned by the UK government says the risks of climate change are comparable to those posed by nuclear conflict.

LONDON, 18 July, 2015 – The UK government says that climate change poses risks that demand to be treated as seriously as the threat  of nuclear war.

Scientists from the UK, US, India and China say in a report commissioned by the UK that deciding what to do about climate change depends on the value we put on human life, both now and in years to come. Tiếp tục đọc “Climate threat as grave a risk as nuclear war”

Cần hiểu đúng tự trị đại học

Các trường đại học, khi được tự chủ trong việc xây dựng chương trình giảng dạy, sẽ thực hiện sự đào tạo theo nhu cầu của xã hội, của nền kinh tế. Họ sẽ nắm bắt, theo dõi nhu cầu của xã hội, của doanh nghiệp và cập nhật thường xuyên chương trình giảng dạy. Việc đào tạo sẽ trở nên hiệu quả hơn rất nhiều…

Nguoidothi – Nước ta đã trải qua nhiều cuộc cải cách về giáo dục và hiện nay, nhu cầu đổi mới nền giáo dục nước nhà vẫn đang là một vấn đề bức xúc của toàn xã hội. Kinh tế Việt Nam đang hội nhập sâu vào nền kinh tế thế giới, trong khi đó nền giáo dục, đặc biệt là giáo dục đại học, vẫn còn tụt hậu so với nhiều nước trong khu vực.Cải cách giáo dục phải là một quốc sách lâu dài, mà trọng tâm là cải tổ giáo dục đại học, dựa trên nhận thức đúng đắn rằng hệ thống giáo dục đại học của chúng ta chính là tài sản trí tuệ của cả cộng đồng dân tộc Việt. Hệ thống đó nhận trách nhiệm trước cộng đồng dân tộc thực hiện nghĩa vụ đào tạo, từ thế hệ này sang thế hệ khác. Những con người Việt Nam ưu tú có kiến thức chân thật ngang tầm thế giới, có đầy đủ tự do và nhân cách của người trí thức, có tư duy sáng tạo độc lập. Vì đại học là tài sản trí tuệ của toàn thể cộng đồng dân tộc, nên dù là đại học công lập hay dân lập, nó cần được Nhà nước dành cho quy chế tự trị để có thể hoàn thành tốt nghĩa vụ và trách nhiệm của nó trước cộng đồng. Tiếp tục đọc “Cần hiểu đúng tự trị đại học”