Shenzen – charter city
- Here’s an idea. Let’s say your country is poor and unstable. You know the only way out is to try something new. But how? How about going the way of Philadelphia, Singapore and Shenzen and running a city wide experiment ? The New York Times recently explored this question in their aptly titled Who Wants to Buy Honduras? “In 2009, Romer developed the idea of charter cities — economic zones founded on the land of poor countries but governed with the legal and political system of, often, rich ones. Romer, who is expected to be chairman, is hoping to build a city that can accommodate 10 million people, which is 2 million more than the current population of Honduras. His charter city will have extremely open immigration policies to attract foreign workers from all over. It will also tactically dissuade some from coming.”
- Again from the New York Times, a piece on microinsurance and how AllLife, a South Africa insurance product, covers people with HIV/AIDs. “AllLife requires the people it insures to make regular medical visits, get the necessary periodic tests and follow treatment protocols. AllLife’s managing director, says that clients average a 15 percent improvement in their CD4 count — an immune system marker — six months after buying insurance. That improvement may partly be the psychology of seeing their disease in a different way: “If you think you have a terminal disease, you don’t care how you eat and exercise,” said Beerman. “Now I have an insurance company monitoring me. They are very active in keeping me alive.”
- Check out this creative street art, Nepali style, from right near my hotel. I leave this week to start Good Return’s Sustainable Energy Program in Cambodia.
——————————————————————————
Image credit: Lettersfrommitia
