Lawrence Solomon believes so. From a recent op-ed of his in the National Post:
Published May 17, 2011
Category: Economics
Published May 16, 2011
Visualizing Economic Complexity
Here is a picture of the Indian economy between 1962 and 2009 (click on the picture for a bigger view):
The picture helps visualizing Indian economic development over the past 50 years.The turquoise dots that emerge in the lower right-hand corner between 1962 and 2009 represent the emergence of India’s high-tech industry. Likewise, the purple dots that emerge in the middle of the lower half between 1962 and 2009 represent the emergence of India’s chemicals industry.
On DDT Spraying, Organic Farming, and Lazy Thinking
From an article that appeared in the New York Times on Thursday:
“When the American government, a generous and close friend to Uganda, began an organic-farming program to help rural economies here, Mr. Acope expanded, selling a wide variety of commodities at good rates.
His one acre became seven. Mr. Acope fathered 11 children. Uganda was developing, and Mr. Acope was one of many who were riding high, he said.
But the very next year came winds of change. Faced with unrelenting malaria, which threatened both lives and livelihoods, Uganda’s government teamed up with the United States to use chemical insecticide sprays — including DDT — to try to eliminate the disease. Mr. Acope’s home district, Apac, which has some of the highest malaria rates in the world was chosen for spraying in early 2008.”
Let me be completely honest here: This type of lazily-thought-through sob story is the very reason why, at the end of my tenure as editor of the student newspaper of the Université de Montréal in 1998, I decided to get as far away from journalism as I possibly could to go to graduate school in economics instead.