The more time I spent in developing countries, and the more time I spent talking to poor people, I realized what they want more than anything is a good job.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It became clear I wanted to be a development economist. I mean, I said I wanted to work on the economics of poor countries. And I'd actually say that I don't think that was so much about narrowing the gap as about increasing their incomes, which means economic growth, which is really my prime interest.
I look under the skin of countries' economies, and I help them make better decisions and be stronger, to prosper and create employment.
I try to make the best of the opportunities that have been given to me.
I wanted to be successful. I definitely didn't want to be poor.
I knew I wanted considerable education so that I wouldn't have to work as hard as my parents.
I got the first job and kept going. Once I got a job, I very much wanted to keep getting jobs, basically. I did try to learn what I could in those first couple of decades.
I grew up in poverty and my mother had to sacrifice a lot for us to eat and get an education - just imagine in a house where we were more than six children! But hard work and dedication is what it took for me to be here today.
I went back to graduate school with the clear intention that what I wanted to do with my life was to improve societies, and the way to do that was to find out what made economies work the way they did or fail to work.
I like having ambitious people around me. I could care less if they want my job.
I prefer being able to choose who I want to help or what I want to improve in the world by making a lot of money myself rather than just going out there and talking about things. If you have money to do things, it's much better than just talking about them.
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