hello, colli!

Collier, that is. Please excuse the nonsensical musical reference. It's one of those days.

Since I won't be able to make it to class tonight for The Bottom Billion presentation, I thought I'd watch Collier's TED talk about "4 ways to improve the lives of the bottom billion".

First impressions: great stuff. It's interesting to hear about a solution that blends tried and true economic concepts (commodity prices! GDP!) with political elements (democracy! governance! corruption!). To summarize: Collier starts off talking about the Marshall Plan and how U.S. foreign and trade expansion successfully revitalized a broken Western Europe after WWII. He then brings up research on the relationship between rising commodity prices of exports and the growth of commodity-exporting countries. His findings? GDP in those countries goes up in the short-run and things are hunky-dory. But in the long-run, things are hunky-dumpty (his words, not mine).

What does this all mean for the bottom billion? Collier argues that this long-run "curse" that plagues resource-rich commodity-exporting countries is inextricably linked to governance. He presents as a solution the creation of international standards to monitor and harness resource revenues so that they actually benefit the "bottom billion". For him, building a critical mass of informed citizenry is one of the first steps towards making this happen, and he ends his talk by calling on everyone to become informed "ambassadors" of development.

Personally, I found his logic to be extremely compelling. Dude's brilliant and he makes a hella good argument. However, I do have a few bones to pick with him:

1) He seems to be championing global governance (along the lines of the U.N. and IMF) as the solution to helping the bottom billion. While entities like the UN have made epic strides in human rights, development, and the like, its reach only extends so far when pitted against national/regional interests. How will these international standards that Collier proposes be enforced?
2) FOREIGN AID! We meet again, my old friend. Collier doesn't outright present aid as a solution but since he's a big fan of the Marshall Plan, it's probably safe to say that he supports it. I think everyone's familiar with the debate surrounding aid so I won't go into it.
3) The idea of "ambassadors" - I really love calls to action so when Collier threw his out, I was pumped. But then I remembered that he's speaking to TED members, some of the richest and most powerful people in the world. Does calling on the elite to lead the charge only reinforce the hierarchical structures that exist in development discourse?

Just some thoughts...Let me know what you think! Happy Spring Break, to all!!