1. Is there a Global solution to poverty?
Final Project: Business, Faith, and the Common Good
Is there a Global solution to poverty?

2. Approach-Interview the Experts
Dr. Kristie Briggs,
Associate Professor of Economics, Creighton University
Tim Bastian
Economics Professor, Creighton University
Dr. Thomas Kelly
Systematic Theology Professor, Creighton University

3. The Questions
Is there a global solution for poverty? If not, what scope do the solutions have to come from? Nationally? Regionally?
What historically has been successful in bringing people out of poverty?
How much does politics and corruption have to do with poverty?

4. Institutions and Programs
Dr. Kristie Briggs
Institutions and Programs
Microfinance (Global), Conditional Cash Transfers
Food Aid-gifts change local economy and takes away jobs
Trade: WTO negotiations-Doha Round
Causes of poverty: “Institutions Rule”-Journal of Economic Growth
#1 rate of return in health and education-especially of women
-Microfinance: use low income country policies in industrialized countries-Grameen Bank (locations in Omaha)
-Conditional Cash Transfers: give money to individuals/families living in poverty contingent on sending children to school, attending health clinics/seminars
-Food Aid:giving away things not produced domestically; cost to transport aid is more than to have country produce product themselves
-Trade: most recent WTO negotiations-agreement not reached because of the changing global environment; lower income countries are gaining more power because of agricultural production and lower tariffs; Europe and U.S. refuse to lower tariffs as it hurts their domestic production to do so.
-Causes: institutions, human capital (health and education), political war/strife
-”Institutions Rule”: Once institutions are controlled for, conventional measures of geography have at best weak direct effects on incomes; trade is almost always insignificant, and often enters the income equation with the “wrong” (i.e., negative) sign

5. Trade and Individual Rights
Tim Bastian
Trade and Individual Rights
“For God’s sake, please stop the aid”-African Economist James Shikwati
“Aid is just a stop-gap.”-Bono
Hernando De Soto-Personal Property Rights
International Trade
E.g. North Korea vs. South Korea
-Shikwati: aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that is sorely needed
-Bono: Commerce, entrepreneurial capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid
-De Soto: no nation can have a strong market economy without adequate participation in an information framework that records ownership of property and other economic information.
-North Korea is least open economy and most centrally directed; South Korea supports international trade and allows personal property-much more successful

6. Dr. Thomas Kelly Empower People
“Structures do matter”-free market works because of regulation (policy)
*DR/Haiti-defend marginalized; not able to change structures, but can fight from lower levels
World Bank/IMF-imposing outside system without knowing consequences on the ground
Education-development indicator
Comprehensive solution: empower people to become agents of change in own environment
Help start small businesses; ability to bring impoverished into markets where they are excluded
*Projects that give freedom/independence to pursue living
*Peru-women’s groups work with churches to build roads and establish electricity

7. Conclusions Three different perspectives, similar assertions:
Investing in people is a solution to poverty (health, education, microfinance).
Empowering people to provide for themselves is a solution to poverty.
Business is a solution to poverty!