What do you want to be when you grow up?
This was the question I asked to two girls today in the field trips I made near Chennai to poor villages. The first one is the granddaughter of the owner of a bycile repair shop that was created with a microcredit loan. The cute girl told me that she wants to become a Doctor. Her grandmother has established a very nice business located in a transited street. For 100 Ruppies (less than USD $3) she will check your bike and give you a diagnosis, and then, depending on what is the fail, she will charge you accordingly.
In the next couple of days I will write some basic conclusions about Microfinance that I’ve been extracting from my intense approach to this subject during the recent days.
I asked the same question to another girl in a Self Help Group (SHG) meeting. Very surprisingly she also told me that she wants to become a Doctor (why does nobody want to become an economist?). This group was learning with the help of the NGO Hand In Hand about basic financial concepts such as savings and managing money. The little girl was the daughter of one of the approximately 20 women that were present in the meeting. The little girl was enrolled in school, and she even spoken to us in English, which is the official language of th education system in India. For people that didn’t go to school in the state of Tamil Nadu, their mother toungue is Tamil.
The economic reforms of openness and liberalization made by Dr. Singh, back then the Minister of Finance of the (Congress Party) Government in 1991 (nowadays the prime minister of India) apparently are being felt even in very poor places. The astounding economic growth of India during the last two decades cannot be unnoticed. I wonder if little girls in the India of the swadeshi (self-reliance) – with import substitutions and limited capital markets – would ever think of being a Doctor. I must say that their answer – which I beleive they will be able to achieve – was the most interesting and best learning of the day.
My name is Dany Bahar. I am currently an MPA/ID student at Harvard Kennedy School of Government (class of 2010), and an alumni of the MA in Economics program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem... 
Very interesting.
However, I’m not sure abolishing import substitution policies or liberalizing capital markets were what made the girls dream of being a doctor. I think Cuba is an example of how an economy that is not liberalized produces many doctors (I heard that some of them are “imported” to Venezuela actually). The USSR is also an example.
Her grandma’s bike shop is also basically a service which is non-tradable (in the international trade sense). However, I understand that the micro finance element is what made this bike shop possible. Here, I think, lies one of the most powerful development tools ever.
Does anybody want to be an architect? Or a marine biologist? Or an importer/exporter? How about assistant to the traveling secretary for the most popular cricket team?
I think you are totally right – I did not mean a causal effect.
However, it is important to remember that Cuba and the USSR were central planning economies, while India has been a democracy since its creation (except for some years of Indira Gandhi in the late seventies). This means that while in the USSR and Cuba the willingness to become a Doctor could be heavily influenced by the State, in India it could be a pure expression of your preferences. So the fact that girls from very poor background have a dream which includes higher education levels, I think is amazing…
And I agree with you about micro-finance, but shortly I will be posting some criticism to this subject that it is really interesting.
Thank you for writing!!!
I`d be impressed if they know of the existence of engineers, designers and bankers. Doctor: the one and only choice of educated profession known to lower suburbia. Sadly.
Prostitution too.