Macro credit for micro credit.

Anyone who has ever been involved in the struggle to help developing nations has to love the award of a Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus for his program of tiny loans to help poor people start businesses. When I worked for the Peace Corps in the 1960s, it was already clear that the absence of credit for the poor was a major obstacle to their escape from poverty. Most foreign-aid agencies, like the World Bank or the U.S. Agency for International Development, favored large projects that sounded impressive and were bureaucratically more convenient--it's easier to write one big check than thousands of small ones.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of the big projects were boondoggles that helped only a few in the host country's ruling elite. What was desperately needed was just what Yunus has done. Bless him and the Nobel committee for recognizing his achievement.