Book Review on More than Good Intentions, by Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel

I just finished reading, "More than Good Intentions" by Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel and absolutely loved it! I haven't read many books on development, and especially on development from an economics perspective, so a lot of the material in the book was new to me. There were a few great points that really spoke to me:

Because of the recent craze in micro credits, we forget a few things, namely that it is not the one-size-fits-all solution to poverty alleviating. The results on returns of micro credits have been iffy, at best - some return the money and others don't. But this doesn't mean that microcredit is a failure. It just means that 100% of people aren't cut out to be entrepreneurs. And giving more micro credits isn't going to solve the poverty problem. This is such a simple point, but it's something that we forget.

I also found it interesting when Karlan states that men are better at returning their loans because women spend the money on other things. This was, no doubt, painful for him to write, and I'm wondering if he's gotten criticism for it. But I believe it - women are probably quicker to spend the money if their child is hurt and needs to go to the doctor, or if they don't have food to put on the table one night.

Another very simple and obvious point that Karlan discusses, but one that really resonates with me, is that development is not only about developing solutions to poverty and giving those solutions to the poor, but it is also about SELLING those solutions to the poor - we must market them and get everyone involved on board, ESPECIALLY those who are supposed to be benefitting from them.

He also discusses education and specifically the success of the CCT called Progresa in Mexico and how it has become a model all over Latin America and the world. As I learn more about CCTs, I don't have as positive an image about them, but I do think he made a few good points. He talks about CCTs and incentive programs as they relate to Healthcare as well. He writes, "Incentives only work if the monitoring tool for administering them is corrupt-proof" (231).