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June 3, 2007
Hunger is a great motivator
The NY Times in the piece In a New India, an Old Industry Buoys Peasants discusses how handmade brick making has become a popular business for former farmers in India. It focuses on one family, the Khabhu, and what they go through to make a living. Detailing the filth, the 14 hour days, the heat, and how the whole family, of grandparents to small children are involved.
Several thoughts came to mind when I read this. Next time you hear someone complaining about illegal (or legal) immigration into the United States, remember that people like this, with no good opportunities are the sorts of people harmed by this policies. By the objective standards of human welfare, a real love of humanity isn't reflected in greater welfare and benefits for the residents of rich countries. Instead, a lover of man would advocate free migration of the denizens of the soils of misery to free and prosperous lands. Sure they would bring problems with them, but benefits too, and bearing a cost is a way to signal you value something, cause as any conman or economist will tell you, talk is cheap.
India seems like a natural place to establish a school for cash program. Mexico pioneered these programs, where the state pays poor mothers to keep their children in school and take their kids to the health clinic. Fixing the opportunities of children is much cheaper than fixing that of adults. In Mexico, which is three times richer per capita than India, the fee is $10 a month in third grade to $35 for the students most at risk. If we choose the highest amount by divide by 3 to adjust for PPP, then with 30% of Indians below the global poverty line and 30% of the population as children, we could keep almost all of them in school for $18.5 billion. With a $3.319 trillion GDP, India could finance that with a tax of %.55 of GDP. That wouldn't be easy, at least in a country with federal tax revenues of $67.3 billion and a recipient of minimal foreign aid, but perhaps they could do it. It would make a huge difference the sort of country India was in 20 years.
Posted by OneEyedMan at June 3, 2007 10:01 AM
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