Name: Sufficiency for All—Exploring Small-Scale, Low-Tech, Pro-Poor Initiatives
Start: 2026-02-19T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-02-19T19:30:00-05:00
Location: Weatherhead East Asian Institute (located at the School of International and Public Affairs)

$Sufficiency for All\u2014Exploring Small-Scale, Low-Tech, Pro-Poor Initiatives$

What if reducing poverty required doing the opposite of orthodox economics?
About this Event

For non-Columbia affiliates, registration is required to access the Morningside campus. After registering you will receive an email with a QR code that must be presented along with a government-issued ID (your name must match exactly the name registered for the event) at either the 116th Street & Broadway or 116th Street & Amsterdam gates for entry. Please register using a unique email address (one email address per registrant) by 4:00pm on Feb. 18 for campus access.

Names will be submitted for QR codes 1-2 days prior to the event. Registrants will receive an email from CU Guest Access with the QR code before or on the day of the event. NOTE: You cannot access campus using the QR code from Eventbrite.

Speaker: John Donaldson, Associate Professor of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University

Moderator: Nick Smith, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies, Barnard College

What if reducing poverty required doing the opposite of orthodox economics? An alternative “small works” approach prioritizes small-scale, localized production, lower-tech practices and rural revitalization. It measures success through sufficiency rather than aggregate growth. Rooted in classical economics and global fieldwork—from China to the Caribbean—it illustrates how poverty reduction can accompany slower, more sustainable growth, challenging dominant assumptions about scale, technology and well-being.

Speaker's Bio: John Donaldson, Associate Professor of Political Science at the School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University (SMU), researches politics, rural development and poverty reduction in China and around the world. He primarily focuses on the disconnect between economic growth and poverty reduction, as well as sustainable poverty reduction. In addition to numerous other academic and policy publications, he is the author of Small Works: Poverty and Economic Development in Southwestern China(Cornell University Press, 2011).

This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and supported by the NT and Mabel Wang Endowment Fund.