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The Father Of Microfinance Has A Plan To Fix Capitalism

Bangladeshi economist and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is advocating for an economic system based on altruism.
PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images
Bangladeshi economist and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is advocating for an economic system based on altruism.

Forty years ago, an economics professor in Bangladesh launched what has often been called a revolution. His idea of making small loans available for people who otherwise couldn’t access credit — in this case, mostly poor rural women — caught on internationally.

Using this microcredit model, millions of people in Bangladesh and around the world have started small businesses, and the professor, Muhammad Yunus, was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts to alleviate poverty.

Today Yunus is trying to launch another revolution. It’s founded on the idea that capitalism is broken and a new economic system, one based on altruism, is needed.

He explains how in a new book titled “A World in Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment and Zero Net Carbon Emissions.”

GUESTS

Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; creator of the microcredit economic movement; and author of the new book “A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment and Zero Net Carbon Emissions”; @Yunus_Centre

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

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