This past Wednesday, the GlobeMed at CU Boulder chapter participated in a debate regarding the economic policies of six prominent economists: Paul Collier, Esther Duflo, William Easterly, Dambisa Moyo, Jeffrey Sachs and Amartya Sen.  This debate was the culmination of three weeks worth of work – members were split into 6 separate groups, with each group being assigned a different economist.  In addition to knowing the economic policies of our assigned economist both inside and out, we also learned the economic policies of the five other economists, allowing us to effectively facilitate our economic argument.  Ultimately, the debate proved both educational and fun, with smiles, laughter, and stimulating conversation abound.

The day following our economic debate, I ran across an article in the LA Times featuring Paul Collier.  An idealist at heart, Collier advocates economic policies guided by values-compassion and enlightened self-interest.  Collier sees a need for checks and balances in order to promote good governance and believes that economic development must precede political development.  In his most recent interview, Collier commented on some of the reasons behind Rwanda’s staggering economic growth.

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