I was listening to NPR on my way into work yesterday and heard Steve Inskeep’s interview with author Moshin Hamid.  I hadn’t heard of him before – a very astute observer and clear thinker.  His latest novel is about being young and entreprenuerial in a developing country, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia.  The book sounds very good – satirical.  He wrote it in the form of a self-help book.  Click the link above to go NPR’s website and listen to the whole interview but a few quotes I thought noteworthy…

On resource scarcity and the ‘marketization’ of our world:

“… things that we used to take for granted — water, for example, was almost free for a long time. And now, suddenly, it is having a price put on it. It’s becoming a giant market. So that area, a former public domain that’s now becoming a huge, contested economic activity…

I think capitalism is brutal.  It’s not clear what the alternative to it is, but it is brutal.”

On the business landscapes in Pakistan and America:

The biggest difference, I think, is that in the U.S. there are more rules. And those rules generally work to people’s mutual benefit. In a place like Pakistan, for example, or many other emerging economies, as they’re called, there are fewer rules. So, there is more corruption, there’s more direct violence, intimidation, breaking of regulations. Now, as we know, these things happen in America, too. But the level of it is just more intense.

“In a way, there’s this whole debate in America. … What if the state got out of the way? What would happen? What would it be like? Living in Pakistan, I can tell you that in Pakistan, the state has gotten out of the way. There’s rampant gun ownership, there’s almost no taxes, there’s a free-for-all, in a way, economically. And it is a very, very tough and difficult environment for human beings to succeed in.”

On the benefits and pitfalls of development:

“There’s two different sides to it. On the one hand, people are getting a little bit more to eat. They’re living a little longer. Their kids are getting vaccinated. That’s important. There’s a material improvement that is going on. And I think it can’t be denied. The problem, though, is something else. I think the problem is more psychological or almost spiritual, you could say. There’s a kind of spiritual and mental health crisis that’s taking place. And you see that expressed in all kinds of strange phenomena like terrorism and crime and depression. So, there is a material improvement, but not yet a humane narrative to go alongside it.”

Material improvement, but not yet a humane narrative to go alongside it.  That thought sticks with me.