Showing posts with label guyana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guyana. Show all posts
8/16/11
5/25/08
Nicholas Laughlin on Caribbean Literature
David Sasaki has a lovely interview with Trinidadian author Nicholas Laughlin. They are both at the Calabash literary festival in Jamaica right now and you can almost taste the sea salt. They are talking about Caribbean literature, imaginary roads, creoleness and it all makes you a bit nostalgic...
I'm embedding the video below but you can also just click here.
Nicholas blogs here and is the editor of the Caribbean Review of Books.
Technorati Tags: nicholaslaughlin, caribbeanreviewofbooks, calabashliteraryfestival
I'm embedding the video below but you can also just click here.
Nicholas blogs here and is the editor of the Caribbean Review of Books.
Technorati Tags: nicholaslaughlin, caribbeanreviewofbooks, calabashliteraryfestival
4/28/08
Measuring Development as if People Mattered More than Places
This article in Slate highlights the work of Michael Clemens and Lance Pritchett who see migration as a means of development.
The article summarizes a crucial point of the study in the following words:
The study invites us to break from traditional measures of national income:
The study by Clemens and Pritchett is entitled "Income per Natural: Measuring Development as if People Mattered More than Places." The study shows that poverty estimates are different for national residents and naturals and reveals that "26 percent of Haitian naturals who are not poor by the two-dollar-a-day standard live in the United States".
The study concludes that:
This is all very interesting and I wonder how it will all tie in to the ongoing debate about how or whether to channel remittances toward development.
Technorati Tags: incomepernatural, michaelclemens, lantpritchett, mexico
The article summarizes a crucial point of the study in the following words:
Many poor people became richer by leaving their country of birth. Clemens and Pritchett estimate that "two of every five living Mexicans who have escaped poverty did so by leaving Mexico; for Haitians it is four out of five."
The study invites us to break from traditional measures of national income:
Clemens and Pritchett estimate that the income of the Samoan-born is nearly twice the income of the Samoan resident, and the Guyanese-born are more than twice as well-off as residents of Guyana.
The study by Clemens and Pritchett is entitled "Income per Natural: Measuring Development as if People Mattered More than Places." The study shows that poverty estimates are different for national residents and naturals and reveals that "26 percent of Haitian naturals who are not poor by the two-dollar-a-day standard live in the United States".
The study concludes that:
The bottom line: migration is one of the most important sources of poverty reduction for a large portion of the developing world. If economic development is defined as rising human well being, then a residence-neutral measure of well-being emphasizes that crossing international borders is not an alternative to economic development, it is economic development.
This is all very interesting and I wonder how it will all tie in to the ongoing debate about how or whether to channel remittances toward development.
Technorati Tags: incomepernatural, michaelclemens, lantpritchett, mexico
11/14/05
Home Can Be Draining But Are We Draining Home?
What the Heck Are You Going to Haiti For?
Since last week's interview with Mill Polyne, I've come across other links about second generation haitian-americans who take an interest in Haiti professionally.The first is an article about Pascal Antoine, founder of www.haitixchange.com. Much like Mill, he tells of discovering Haiti as an adult (in his case, via a trip) and against his relatives' advice.
Then, still on HaitiXchange, rapper Mecca a.k.a. Grimo, born in Brooklyn and raised in Miami, talks about rapping in Creole.
Brain Drain through Caribbean Lens
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the New York Times article on the World Bank's stats that 80% of Haitian and Jamaican college graduates and over 85% of Surinamese and Guyanese college graduates live abroad. (Compare with 3 to 5% for India and China.) According to the article, the World Bank's report seems to make a causal link between the brain drain and some developing countries' developing status.
Today's Jamaica Gleaner has a rather interesting editorial about this issue which unveils a caribbean perspective --one of many, I'm sure--on the World Bank's stats. The article suggests that Jamaica's saturated job market cannot absorb all the "brains" produced anyway and that high volumes of remittances sent home by Jamaican migrants (about 1.4 billion for Jamaica and 1 billion for Haiti) may make the "drain" worthwhile. It also talks about Jamaica being in the "business of education for export" and mentions that it might not be a bad idea for migrant "brains" to compensate Jamaica for the education somehow. Hmmm...
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