A Big Idea in a Flat World

I recently attended the Aspen Ideas Fest at the Aspen Institute. While Acumen Fund values and works as a global community, and not from any one viewpoint, I was also speaking here as an American on Independence Day weekend - a reminder that we all speak as ourselves in different communities and have slightly different messages. What is important - and exciting - is to do so always with the view of reminding ourselves, and the world, that we are all in this together. And that, together, we really can solve tough problems.

On this celebratory day of American independence, I am reminded of a Big Idea on which this country was founded… that all men are created equal; and that by virtue of this, have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is an idea that has evolved over time to include all Americans, regardless of race, gender or religion.

Our challenge today in a Flat World is to extend this fundamental proposition beyond national borders - to every human being on the planet. Indeed, our mutual survival - and whether we flourish in an integrated world - depends on it.

We are living in an extraordinary moment of history and the future is ours to create. Technology has connected us in unprecedented ways, while revealing a fundamental paradox of the modern age: the stark inequalities on earth are fully visible - the poor know how much they don’t have. A Japanese girl born today can expect to live for 85 years; a girl born in Sierra Leone, 36. One will receive the world’s best healthcare; the other may never see a doctor in her life. We know this and have the technology, and knowledge, to change it.

In recent years, we’ve heard calls to End Poverty through top-down solutions aimed at curing the world’s ills. What worries me is that, in our rush to bestow our knowledge and solutions on the needy, it is too easy to forget the fundamental premise of equality - too tempting to solve problems in the way we deem right and necessary, regardless of what is desired or needed by those we are trying to help.

I believe in a different approach: solutions that address the realities of poor people with the clarity and accountability of the marketplace. This promotes equality because markets truly work only when individual preferences are honored. Market-based solutions, either alone or in partnership with government, can be applied to all basic needs of the poor - healthcare, water, housing, education. In the end, these are the only kinds of solutions that will scale and become financially sustainable. By investing with an eye to social change, rather than simply providing charity, we can shift the relationship from the poor being passive recipients of development aid to being active participants in directing their own lives. This is where change - and dignity - begin.

To engage fully in the world, we as Americans must not only ask others to change, but be prepared to change ourselves. This commitment to extending the principles of equality can, over time, create a world of greater justice and freedom so that all individuals can expand their own choices and solve their own problems. Based on a Big Idea that changed America, this is the world I dream.