Turkish Armenian economist and friend of The Haitian Project Daron Acemoglu has been awarded the Nobel Prize in economic sciences.
The MIT economist was honored with two others for work demonstrating the differences in prosperity between nations. In countries where there is a poor rule of law, or there are institutions that exploit the population, growth or positive development is hindered.
As the Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences stated: “Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges."
In 2017, The Haitian Project ran a Community Update (see below) where Prof. Acemoglu elaborated on the importance of education on development. The comments he shared with THP then remain just as valid and thought-provoking today. Enjoy!
June 16, 2017
THP's vision for putting EDUCATION FIRST covered in The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe just ran a piece about THP's vision for building a national network of schools in Haiti and for moving education to the top of the list of what works and what doesn't in the country.
As the article points out, not everyone agrees with this approach — including Bill Gates (watch Gates explain how health is the top priority). However, three decades of experience in Haiti and numerous other individuals — people who have devoted their lives to working for change on the ground, economists, and not the least of all many Haitians themselves, argue that there is a proper order and prioritization for how we provide help, and that rule of law and education are the real priorities.
Daron Acemoglu, one of MIT's top economists and author of the important text, Why Nations Fail, elaborated on this subject in a recent email exchange. His comments are included below with his permission:
"The idea that you invest in health in order to unleash the economic potential of a country is dubious. Bill Gates claims that if you're not healthy, you cannot do anything else. Of course, poor health conditions are a drag on the education system. But similarly, a dysfunctional education system and corrupt government is a huge drag on attempts to improve health. Britain in the 19th century was far unhealthier and faced much lower life expectancy rates than pretty much anywhere in the world today. But this did not mean that it was doomed to failure, and it managed to build a functioning democracy, clean up corruption, introduce mass schooling and industrialize."
Health care and aid did not create a developed country. As we frequently say, the Irish and Italian immigrants in the U.S. came out of the ghettos diseased, hungry, but educated!
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