Christianity, academia, and whatever else I happen to be thinking about
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The moneymaker water pump
Also from Michael Kruse's blog: a fascinating report about an engineer who is trying to help poor people in Africa by selling, and not giving away, water pumps.
Good to see he is selling them, as this generates positive economic externalities in the shape of creating a sales force behind them.
Funny seeing this coming from PBS, though. Thought they would want to see them given away with a donation and a free tote bag telling people you contributed during the phone-a-thon.
Interesting comments in the interview about the value of something bought as opposed to something received as a gift. $100 still sounds like a large amount of money for the average African farmer to find....
Good to see he is selling them, as this generates positive economic externalities in the shape of creating a sales force behind them.
ReplyDeleteFunny seeing this coming from PBS, though. Thought they would want to see them given away with a donation and a free tote bag telling people you contributed during the phone-a-thon.
Interesting comments in the interview about the value of something bought as opposed to something received as a gift. $100 still sounds like a large amount of money for the average African farmer to find....
ReplyDelete