Provocative and scary
A very provocative presentation at CEPA’s 38 th Open Forum entitled “Urban Poverty in the US and in Sri Lanka: how different is it?” was made by Professor Lakshman Yapa at CEPA yesterday evening. He argued that economic development, especially economic development of the capitalist kind, the dominant model running the global economy today, cannot and will not eradicate poverty in the US or elsewhere. This he argues is because economic development is itself one of the drivers that perpetuates poverty. The trouble with this is that we’ve all known this for sometime and some of us (and I mean the big players in development) are finally beginning to accept it, openly. Which is why the World Bank is making a greater emphasis on social protection and safety nets – the things one needs to do to relieve the deprivation of those who do not share the spoils of economic growth. Which is why ‘big’ philanthropy, of the scale of Gates and Buffet, are making headlines. We’ve made