穆罕默德.尤努斯

BBC中文網昨天新聞〈孟加拉人獲諾貝爾和平獎〉報導，諾貝爾基金會 2006 年和平獎由孟加拉籍的經濟學家：穆罕默德.尤努斯與他所創立的銀行共同獲得。

孟加拉人穆罕默德.尤努斯（Muhammad Yunus）和他創立的銀行共享今年度的諾貝爾和平獎。經濟學教授尤努斯在30年前創辦Grameen（格拉明）銀行，向有需要的人提供小額貸款。諾貝爾評審委員會周五（13日）表示，這是為了表揚他們從基層推動經濟和社會發展。委員會指出：「只有當大批人口找到消除貧困的途徑，才能取得永久的和平。」委員會說，尤努斯把理念轉化為實際行動，讓幾百萬人獲益，他們不光是孟加拉人，也包括其他國家的百姓。Grameen 意思就是「小型鄉村」，其模式是一種非政府組織從事小額信貸的模式。

TVBS 新聞網站〈尤諾斯救助貧困　獲諾貝爾和平獎〉有提到 Grameen 銀行最重要的意義：

尤諾斯今年66歲，是孟加拉知名的經濟學者，1976年創辦鄉村銀行組織，提供小額信貸，在30年之間至少貸出了50億美金，幫助500萬的孟加拉人脫離貧困。諾貝爾和平獎得主尤諾斯：「否定15億窮困者的想法、生產力和創意，這實在是巨大的損失。」

尤諾斯在自傳中，自許為窮人的銀行家，他認為有錢人如果能幫助窮困的人，才能讓他們有餘力為社會多做貢獻。此外，尤諾斯也常親自下鄉，關心孟加拉鄉村民眾的生活，瞭解他們的需求之後，再藉由鄉村銀行提供適時的幫助，因此廣受孟加拉人的愛戴。

微型信貸（micro-credit），或者微型金融（micro-finance），這種以堅實理論基礎構築女性與鄉村農民等弱勢者的合作經濟模式，近年來在許多國內外場合都有機會被反覆提到。BBC 中文網新聞中有繼續解釋：

「格拉以小組為基礎的農戶組織，要求同一社區內社會經濟地位相近的貧困者在自願的基礎上組成貸款小組，相互幫助選擇項目，相互監督項目實施，相互承擔還貸責任。在小組基礎上建立中心，作為進行貸款交易和技術培訓的場所；無抵押的、短期的小額信貸，但要求農戶分期還款，定期參加中心活動。對於遵守銀行紀律、在項目成功基礎上按時還款的農戶，實行連續放款政策。經營機構本身實行商業化管理，特別是以工作量核定為中心的成本核算。

小額信貸在70年代發端於孟加拉國，它是滿足窮人信貸需求的一種信貸方式，貸款對象僅限於窮人，額度很小，無需抵押。自創立以來，小額信貸受到了窮人的熱烈歡迎，迅速推廣到亞洲、非洲和拉丁美洲的許多發展中國家，成為一種非常有效的扶貧方式。各國也根據本國特點逐步創新出新的小額信貸模式。

去年5月25日〈工商：張忠謀 榮獲日經亞洲獎〉我有看到日經亞洲獎的「區域成長獎」獎項得獎者，就是穆罕默德.尤努斯；去年也被稱為是國際微型金融的一年，繼社會企業（social enterprise）之後，這種微型的社會實踐變成了眾所皆知的重要概念與實作。在 wikipedia 中 Grameen（格拉明）銀行的介紹文章，關於格拉明電信計畫與乞丐貸款計畫等的介紹，也都讓人驚訝不已。

尤努斯在今年八月的一篇文章〈什麼是微型信貸？〉（What is Microcredit?）中細數不同型態的微型信貸，並且就他 Grameen 銀行所從事的方向做出澄清。這可以讓想要更深入了解這個重要概念的朋友有機會知道細節。

The word “microcredit” did not exist before the seventies. Now it has become a buzz-word among the development practitioners. In the process, the word has been imputed to mean everything to everybody. No one now gets shocked if somebody uses the term “microcredit” to mean agricultural credit, or rural credit, or cooperative credit, or consumer credit, credit from the savings and loan associations, or from credit unions, or from money lenders. When someone claims microcredit has a thousand year history, or a hundred year history, nobody finds it as an exciting piece of historical information.

I think this is creating a lot of misunderstanding and confusion in the discussion about microcredit. We really don’t know who is talking about what. I am proposing that we put labels to various types of microcredit so that we can clarify at the beginning of our discussion which microcredit we are talking about. This is very important for arriving at clear conclusions, formulating right policies, designing appropriate institutions and methodologies. Instead of just saying “microcredit” we should specify which category of microcredit.

在諾貝爾和平獎被提名的總數一百九十一名角逐者當中，有很多都是具有全球知名度的國際人士。在公佈評選結果之前，得獎呼聲最高之一的是芬蘭前總統阿赫蒂薩里（Martti Ahtisaari）…這個名字有點耳熟能詳吧。他是現在代表聯合國主要推動 Kosovo 科索伏獨立計畫的幕後推手。在前面 GVO 翻譯計畫：〈塞爾維亞：聯合國代表 Ahtisaari，與 Kosovo、Metohia 的未來〉中他的論點引起塞爾維亞人的抗議（尤其是在塞爾維亞剛通過一部新憲法，宣示科索伏是主權範圍的一部份之後）。中國東突或疆獨人士也因獲選入圍，而讓某些中國媒體全面檢討「諾貝爾和平獎的泛政治化」（〈諾貝爾和平獎變了味〉，以及諾貝爾獎竟提名東突分子 瑞典議員用心不良）。

George Soros

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George Soros
George Soros speaking in Malaysia
Born	August 12, 1930 (1930-08-12) (age 77) Budapest, Hungary
Occupation	speculator, investor, philanthropist, political activist
Net worth	$8.5 billion (Forbes) [1]
Spouse	Twice divorced (Annaliese Witschak and Susan Weber Soros)
Children	Robert, Andrea, Jonathan, Alexander, Gregory
Website	www.georgesoros.com

George Soros (pronounced [ˈʃoroʃ]) (born August 12, 1930, in Budapest, Hungary, as György Schwartz) is an American financial speculator, stock investor, philanthropist, and political activist.^[2] He has also promoted democracy in Eastern Europe.

Currently, he is the chairman of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute and is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations. His support for the Solidarity labour movement in Poland, as well as the Czechoslovakian human rights organization Charter 77, contributed to ending Soviet Union political dominance in those countries.^[3] His funding and organization of Georgia's Rose Revolution was considered by Russian and Western observers to have been crucial to its success, although Soros said his role has been "greatly exaggerated." In the United States, he is known for having donated large sums of money in a failed effort to defeat President George W. Bush's bid for re-election in 2004. On BookTV, November 12, 2007, he said that he supports Barack Obama for the Democrat candidate in the 2008 election, but says that John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, or Joe Biden are all fine candidates, as well.

Soros is famously known for "breaking the Bank of England" on Black Wednesday in 1992. With an estimated current net worth of around $8.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 80th-richest person in the world.^[1]

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker wrote in 2003 in the foreword of Soros' book The Alchemy of Finance:

"George Soros has made his mark as an enormously successful speculator, wise enough to largely withdraw when still way ahead of the game. The bulk of his enormous winnings is now devoted to encouraging transitional and emerging nations to become 'open societies,' open not only in the sense of freedom of commerce but - more important - tolerant of new ideas and different modes of thinking and behavior."

Lehrer Tom

video: Tom Lehrer singing some math themed songs

Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer (born April 9, 1928) is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician. He also lectured on mathematics and musical theater.

Lehrer is best known for the pithy, humorous songs he recorded in the 1950s and 60s. His work often parodied popular song forms, notably in "The Elements", where he sets the names of the chemical elements to a tune from Gilbert and Sullivan. Lehrer's earlier work frequently dealt with trivial subject matter, but he also produced a number of songs dealing with the social and political issues of the day, particularly when he went on to write for the TV show That Was The Week That Was.

Lehrer earned his BA in mathematics (Magna Cum Laude) from Harvard University in 1947, when he was 18. He received his MA the next year, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He taught classes at MIT, Harvard and Wellesley. He remained in Harvard's doctoral program for several years, taking time out for his musical career and to work as a researcher at Los Alamos, New Mexico. He joined the Army from 1955 to 1957, working at the National Security Agency. (Lehrer has been rumored to have invented the Jello Shot during this time, as a means of circumventing liquor restrictions.^[3] ) All of these experiences eventually became fodder for songs: "Fight Fiercely, Harvard", "The Wild West Is Where I Want To Be" and "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier", respectively. There was perhaps some truth to his comment in the intro to the latter song, in which he said he had left the Army and was now in the "Radioactive Reserve".

In 1960, Lehrer returned to full-time studies at Harvard. However, he never completed his doctoral studies, and never received a PhD in mathematics (pig ah, haha~~~). In 1972, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, teaching an introductory course entitled "The Nature of Mathematics" to liberal-arts majors — "Math for Tenors", according to Lehrer. He also taught a class in musical theater. He still occasionally performs songs in his lectures, primarily those relating to the topic [2].