The Duke Digest - August 13, 2010

In Today's Issue:

  • Duke Researcher: Focus on Reasons for Poverty, Not Just Solutions
  • Duke Constitutional Law Professor on Revising the 14th Amendment
  • Duke Research: Hotter Nights Threaten Food Security
  • Initiative to Highlight Duke and Global Development


DUKE RESEARCHER: FOCUS ON REASONS FOR POVERTY, NOT JUST SOLUTIONS
Anirudh Krishna, a Duke University researcher who spent the past decade studying more than 35,000 households on four continents, says policymakers are focusing too much on new ideas for lifting people out of poverty instead of coming to terms with why billions of people became poor in the first place. His new book, "One Illness Away: Why People Become Poor and How they Escape Poverty" (Oxford University Press), calls on government officials, economists and others to pay more attention to the everyday lives and ordinary events that underlie poverty.

Read More:
Worldwide Study Finds New Explanations for Poverty (DukeNews)


DUKE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR ON REVISING THE 14th AMENDMENT
Duke Law Professor Walter Dellinger writes in an opinion piece for Politico that adopting a constitutional amendment aimed at revising the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship provision "would be a grave mistake."

Read More:
What Makes an American? (Politico)


DUKE RESEARCH: HOTTER NIGHTS THREATEN FOOD SECURITY
Production of rice, the world’s most important crop for ensuring global food security and addressing poverty, will be thwarted as temperatures increase in rice-growing areas with continued climate change, according to a new study by an international team of scientists.

Read More:
Hotter Nights Threaten Food Security - Rice at Risk (Nicholas School of the Environment)


INITIATIVE TO HIGHLIGHT DUKE AND GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
A new, campus-wide initiative, “A World Together: Duke and Global Development,” will call attention to the many ways in which Duke’s commitment to its mission of “knowledge in service to society” extends far beyond Durham to some of the world’s poorest regions. The year-long initiative will co-sponsor a series of free, public events including speakers, service learning programs and contributions from the arts, all exploring global development issues.

Read More:
'A World Together' to Highlight Duke and Global Development (DukeNews)