Portman and Easterly Discuss Microfinancing at Africa House, Wagner Event

Actress and activist Natalie Portman and NYU economist William Easterly, author of The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, discussed microfinancing and global poverty during a public dialogue this fall in the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The event was co-sponsored by NYU’s Africa House and Bridge-Students for Social Entrepreneurship at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Economist Muhammad Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for inventing the concept of microfinancing, the practice of lending small amounts of money to destitute people, 30 years ago in his native Bangladesh.