"Creative Capitalism": Can It Meet the Needs of the World's Poor?

Noting in his recent address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that “we have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier serve poorer people as well,” Microsoft’s Bill Gates called for a new system of “creative capitalism” – “an approach where governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world’s inequities.”

Others are not so certain that development pursued by well-meaning experts working from the top down can ever make a dent in world poverty. Long-time critic of international aid WILLIAM EASTERLY, for instance, argues that: “We don’t know what actions achieve development, our advice and aid don’t make those actions happen even if we knew what they were, and we are not even sure who ‘we’ are that is supposed to achieve development.”

Can Bill Gates’ “creative capitalism” make significant inroads against world poverty? That will be the question addressed by Easterly along with Urban Institute Senior Fellow EUGENE STEUERLE and ALLEN HAMMOND, vice president for innovation at the World Resources Institute. Hudson Institute’s own CAROL ADELMAN, director of Hudson’s Center for Global Prosperity, will moderate the discussion. Lunch will be served. Please join us!

Program and Panel

11:45 a.m.
Registration, lunch buffet

12:00 p.m.
Welcome by Hudson Institute’s WILLIAM SCHAMBRA

12:10
Panel discussion
WILLIAM EASTERLY, Brookings Institution and New York University
EUGENE STEUERLE, The Urban Institute
ALLEN HAMMOND, World Resources Institute
CAROL ADELMAN, Moderator, Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Prosperity

1:10
Question-and-answer session

2:00
Adjournment

TO RSVP, please click here. To request further information on this event or the Bradley Center, please contact Krista Shaffer at (202) 974-2424 or krista@hudson.org. For more information on the Center for Global Prosperity, please contact Samantha Grayson at samantha@hudson.org.