{"id":390469,"date":"2010-03-04T18:21:29","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T23:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/business\/archive\/2010\/03\/innovative-finance-in-development\/37073\/?rss=37073"},"modified":"2010-03-04T18:21:29","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T23:21:29","slug":"innovative-finance-in-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/390469","title":{"rendered":"Innovative Finance in Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am in Paris at the moment, attending a conference on innovative finance in development<\/a>,
\nput together by the World Bank, AFD (the French development agency),
\nand the Gates Foundation. It is an interesting event. As well as panels
\nand workshops, there is a competition<\/a> for promising financial innovations. The World Bank has a very good pamphlet, Innovative Finance for Development Solutions<\/a>, if you want some background reading.<\/p>\n

The
\ncompetition’s 20 finalists include all manner of ingenious schemes
\ndesigned by small NGOs, not-so-small development agencies, and
\neverything in between. “Mobile Authentication for Indo-Nepal
\nRemittance” (by Ekgaon Technologies and Nirdhan Utthan Bank), for
\ninstance; “Natural Catastrophe Protection for the Rural Poor”
\n(Caribbean Risk Managers and Development Bank of Jamaica); “Proving the
\nValue of Mobile Money for Microfinance” (by the Grameen Foundation);
\nand so on. <\/p>\n

I moderated a panel on the first morning. (I expect there will be
\nvideo later. I’ll put the link in this post when I have it.) The issue
\nthat interested me most was the tension between all this pro-poor,
\npro-development financial ingenuity and the now-prevailing orthodoxy
\nthat financial innovation is essentially a scam perpetrated by Wall
\nStreet and its offshoots on everybody else. In the US context even Paul
\nVolcker, as respected and mainstream an eminence as one could wish,
\nsays he sees little evidence that financial innovation has brought
\nsocial gain.<\/p>\n

The Economist just hosted an interesting debate on this between Joe Stiglitz and Ross Levine<\/a>.
\nNearly 60% of readers casting votes agreed with Stiglitz in opposing
\nthe motion, “This house believes that financial innovation boosts
\neconomic growth.” I’m with the minority in thinking that Levine made
\nthe better case. As I mentioned the other day, Bob Litan<\/a>
\nhas done a good even-handed essay about the pros and cons of specific
\nfinancial innovations, instrument by instrument. Bob Shiller as always
\nis a font of wisdom on this subject: in The Subprime Solution<\/a> and The New Financial Order<\/a> he makes a persuasive case that we need new kinds of financial innovation-but in any event, more of it not less.<\/p>\n

Pressed
\nfor time, my panel did little more than raise the subject and
\nacknowledge the dangers. Browse through some of the schemes discussed
\nin the Bank’s pamphlet, or the competition finalists on the conference
\nwebsite, and see if your suspicion of financial innovation is not
\ntempered a little.<\/p>\n

This was the first time I’d been to Paris for
\nseveral years, so indulge me in some cultural observations. The city
\nseems to have been invaded by very large scooters-scooters which are to
\nordinary scooters as Hummers are to ordinary SUVs. They are more akin
\nto small cars. In fact, some have two wheels at the front so that they
\ncan stand unsupported. I like them. They are somewhat manly. I want one
\nof these hefty three-wheelers for driving round Washington.<\/p>\n

Happily
\nsome things never change. I will say this for the French. This is a
\ncountry that dares to soft-boil an egg. My breakfast this morning was
\nthe best I have had since I last visited Paris. Grapefruit, eggs, pain
\nchocolat (half), and caf\u00e9 au lait. Simple things, slightly reminiscent
\nof the equivalent US and UK products, but raised to the highest
\nstandard of deliciousness. I could move to Paris for the breakfasts
\nalone.<\/p>\n

On a terminological note, I see that in France one is not a moderator but an animateur. Tout \u00e0 fait.<\/p>\n



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I am in Paris at the moment, attending a conference on innovative finance in development, put together by the World Bank, AFD (the French development agency), and the Gates Foundation. It is an interesting event. As well as panels and workshops, there is a competition for promising financial innovations. The World Bank has a very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5958,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5958"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}