EC.715 | Spring 2007 | Undergraduate

D-Lab: Disseminating Innovations for the Common Good

Readings

Main Text

[DOI] Rogers, Everett M. Diffusion of Innovations. 5th ed. New York, NY: Free Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780743222099.

Yunus, Muhammad. Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. New York, NY: PublicAffairs/Perseus Books, 2003. ISBN: 9781586481988.

Prahalad, C. K. The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780131877290.

LEC # TOPICS READINGS
1 Big ideas  
2 Development entrepreneurship, $100k and IDEAS competitions DOI, chapter 1
3 IDEAS competition, Deshpande Center for Innovation  
4 Team formation, meaning of “Development” and proposal outline DOI, chapter 3
5 Co-evolutionary design for development  
6 Case study — Muhammad Yunus (Susan Murcott) Banker to the Poor - begin
7 Case study — Muhammad Yunus - continued discussion (Susan Murcott) Banker to the Poor - finish
8 Case study — Dr. Paul Farmer and Dr. Venkataswamy (Ali Alhassani)

Kidder, Tracy. Mountains Beyond Mountains. New York, NY: Random House, 2003, chapters 1-4. ISBN: 9780375506161.

Partners in Health

9 Theory DOI, chapters 4 and 5
10 IDEAS proposals review workshop  
11 Case study — participatory development and patent basics and confidentiality (Tamira Gunzburg)

Reading Guide (PDF) (Courtesy Tamira Gunzburg. Used with permission.)

Chambers, Robert. “Participatory Rural Appraisal: Analysis of Experience.” World Development 22 (1994): 1253-1268.

Participatory Learning and Action

Guijt, Irene, and Andrea Cornwall. “Critical Reflections on the Practice of PRA.” PLA Notes, no. 24 (1995): 2-7.

Two Web sites that complement these readings:

Social Impact Assessment

Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment

12 Case study — Ghana pottery and patents (cont.) (Jessica Lee) Browne, Angela W. “Appropriate Technology and the Dynamics of Village Industry: A Case Study of Pottery in Ghana.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 6 (1981): 313-323.
13 Finance

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. “Meeting the Needs of Technology Entrepreneurs in Massachusetts.” (PDF)

Boston Harbor Angels

Golden Seeds

14 Case study — making aid work (Angela Kilby)

Buy at MIT Press Banerjee, Abhijit Vinayak. “Making Aid Work.” Boston Review, 2006. (Also in Making Aid Work. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780262026154.)

URL responses to “Making Aid Work

Case study — mixed income housing (Daniel Bergey)

Rosenbaum, James E., Linda K. Stroh, and Cathy A. Flynn. “Lake Parc Place: A Study of Mixed-Income Housing.” Housing Policy Debate 9 (1998): 703-740.

Brophy, Paul C., and Rhonda N. Smith. “Mixed-Income Housing: Factors for Success.” Cityscape 3 (1997): 3-31.

15 Finance (cont.) Mauro Nunez links/project (PDF)
16 Case study — rural energy in developing countries (Zehra Ali)

Reddy, Amulya K. N. “Energy Technologies and Policies for Rural Development.” Chapter 4 in Energy for Sustainable Development: A Policy Agenda. Edited by Thomas B. Johansson, Jose Goldemberg. New York, NY: UNDP, 2002. (PDF)

Richards, Peter. “Renewable Development: New Strategies in Rural Electrification.”

Williams, Neville. “Chasing the Sun Around the World.”

Steinberg, Douglas, Heidi Rahn, and Andy Horsnell. “Igniting Innovation: A Thought Leaders Strategy Forum.” Lemelson Foundation Report, 2005. (PDF) (Courtesy of The Lemelson Foundation. Used with permission.)

Case study — eco-efficiency (Tess Veuthey) McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart. “Eco-Effectiveness.” In Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. New York, NY: North Point Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780865475878.
17 IdeasStream conference DOI, chapters 6 and 7
18 Monitoring and evaluation

Abdul Latif Jameen Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

Duflo, Esther. “Field Experiments in Development Economics.” Chapter 13 in Advances in Economics and Econometrics: Theory and Applications, Ninth World Congress. Vol. 2. Edited by Richard Blundell, Whitney K. Newey, and Torsten Persson. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780521871532.

Duflo, Esther, Glennerster, Rachel, and Kremer, Michael. “Randomized Evaluations of Interventions in Social Science Delivery.”

19 Case study — total sanitation (Ibrahim Kanan)

“Making Sanitation Work.” Jal Manthan 7 (Rural Think Tank), (December 2002). The Water and Sanitation Program (PDF)

Kar, Kamal. “Practical Guide to Triggering Community-Led Total Sanitation.” Institute of Development Studies, 2005. (PDF) (Courtesy of Institute of Development Studies. Used with permission.)

“Igniting Change: Tackling the Sanitation Challenge.” Jal Manthan 5 (Rural Think Tank) (April 2002). (PDF)

20 Technology for remediation of arsenic in drinking water DOI, chapters 8 and 9
21 Case study — human waste reuse (Xavier Gonzalez)

Reed, Bob, and Rod Shaw. “Using Human Waste.” Technical Brief 63. Water and Environmental Health at London and Loughborough (WELL). (PDF)

Adam, David. “Human Waste Used to Create Green Fuel.” The Guardian, November 29, 2006.

Tarr, Joel A., et al. “Water and Wastes: A Retrospective Assessment of Wastewater Technology in the United States, 1800-1932.” Technology and Culture 25, no. 2 (April 1984): 226-63.

22 Social marketing DOI, chapters 10 and 11
23 Case study — biogas in Nepal (Chris Tostado)  
24 Final presentations Entire class
25 Final presentations (cont.) Entire class

Course Info

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Spring 2007
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