Charles Kenny is a development economist on leave from the World Bank. Before discussing his new book, Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding – And How We Can Improve the World Even More at the Goethe-Institut, he answered a few questions in our Green Room.
Q. What talent would you like to have?
A. Languages
Q. What is your cocktail of choice?
A. Martini. Straight up, pretty much.
Q. What is your greatest simple pleasure?
A. Martinis
Q. What is the last great book you read?
A. Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, The Economic Lives of the Poor.
Q. What teacher had the greatest effect on you?
A. My history teacher in high school. I then went on to study history in college.
Q. What do you wake up to in the morning?
A. Usually, I have to say, either a crying child or a wife gently prodding me to suggest that it is my turn to deal with a crying child.
Q. What would we find you doing at 8 pm on an average weekday?
A. Bathing one of the aforementioned.
Q. What surprises you about your life right now?
A. How much of it is taken up with bathing children. [Laughs.] No, how everything is going incredibly well. I feel very lucky, touch wood.
Q. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. I wanted to climb mountains, but people don’t pay you for that unless you’re much better and braver about heights than I am.
Q. What music have you listened to recently?
A. A lot of dance music because it helps get over the jet lag.
To read more about Kenny’s lecture, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.