We need to learn to work with political systems that are not perfect instead of taking the view: let's first fix the politics, then we'll fix the rest.
Interpretation
We should engage with flawed political systems rather than waiting for them to become perfect before addressing other issues.
Abhijit Banerjee highlights the importance of pragmatism in dealing with political systems. Instead of insisting on perfect conditions as a prerequisite for progress, he encourages a proactive approach that acknowledges the imperfections of political structures while still working towards solving broader societal issues.
In practice
During a political seminar discussing reform strategies.
Here is an entirely banal idea that I think has the potential to change the world: Take evidence seriously. Taking evidence seriously does not mean privileging numbers over all other forms of knowledge - theories, narratives, images. Nor does it mean the kind of radical skepticism that questions everything to the point where no action is possible.
In the development business doing something for both women and the environment is the equivalent of holding a royal flush in poker.
One problem with globalisation is that bad ideas seem to travel faster than good ones; first there was smearing tomato ketchup on everything; then drinking sugar-soaked cocktails ('Cosmo'-politanism) instead of our traditional whisky soda, and now this idea that we should abandon the poor to their fate in order to protect their dignity.
Will we make all poverty history? No. But can we solve some of these extreme and egregious forms of poverty? I think yes, and we should.
The Korean government is the first to declare that if you replace people with machines you have to pay a tax. It's a tax on robots. They make private companies internalise the social cost of unemployment. Social benefit is not the same as private benefit. We have to realise this.
Most farmers know that their children's future will probably not be in agriculture, but they have a hard time imagining a different life.
The money in politics is a cash cow for the media.
Government is the assumption of authority over a given area and all within it, exercised generally for the double purpose of more complete oppression of its subjects and extension of its boundaries.
In every society in human history, including the United States, those in power seek to imbue themselves with the attributes of religion and patriotism as a way of getting greater support for their policy and insulating themselves from any criticism.
The extremism of the Trump administration has galvanized women to push back against the political system that has disadvantaged them for a generation.
It is urgent to prevent new U.S. aggression. The time is now for the world to say 'no' to U.S. threats of air attack against Iran, and to the very notion of a nuclear first-use 'option' by America or any other nation.
If I were president, I'd be very glad to see the Palestinians have a nation recognized by the United Nations. There's no downside to it.
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