Another Book Review: Creating a World Without Poverty

I wrote a little about this on GOodreads...so if we're pals there you've seen this already...
I was kind of disappointed with this book, given that I have a been a huge fan of Muhammad Yunus for a long time, ever since I saw a mini-documentary about him on one of the local PBS stations years ago. His micro-credit movement has been incredibly successful in Bangladesh and has changed the way people think about helping the poor throughout the world. I have been pretty excited by his simple, individualistic approach to fixing the hopeless cycle so many of the world's poorest people find themselves in. This book deals with his evolving ideas in solving the problem of poverty...and the rest of the world's problems while he's at it through something he calls "Social Business".

This newest experiment is a business which exists to provide a solution to some social problem (e.g. malnutrition) while also providing employment in poor communities. There is no profit dividend for investors - who are repaid their principle investment, all profits being returned to the business to expand their efforts for good, a self-sustaining cycle. It reminded me a lot of the LDS Church's Perpetual Education Fund. It's not a bad idea. His book recounts the inspiring example of their first attempt at a social business joint venture with Danone (Dannon yogurt).

I was kind of surprised by the scope of his vision - to eliminate all that is harmful in the world - and I found myself questioning a lot of his underlying assumptions (e.g. that eliminating poverty will put an end to all violence and exploitation, that bad things happen among people and nations primarily because of the imbalance between rich and poor, also that there is never a good reason for something like a big car...because if you don't need the space you're wasteful and if you DO need the space then you're irresponsible [for having that many children]). I couldn't help asking questions about poverty & exploitation also resulting from inadequate legal systems, vice, abuse, fanaticism, etc. not necessarily motivated by profit. That is: money isn't always the answer. A lot of his foundational reasoning is classic finite resource economics: population control, etc. But he's also a believer in abundance through ingenuity...it's a kind of "hit it from both sides" approach.

Overall, it's good thinking, they're doing so much good (check out this talk by LDS apostle Russell Ballard).

I think Muhammad Yunus needs to collaborate with Hernando De Soto and the ILD. (Mike's inspiration for his master's in Econ.) in creating the framework and opportunity for the poor to escape the cycle.