Beats | March 11, 2017

The Brief Quiz (No.5): How High is Your Impact IQ?

ImpactAlpha
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ImpactAlpha

International Women’s Day is over. The International Year of Mansplaining continues. Sad! The Brief Quiz can bring us together. Let’s see where your Impact IQ got you this week.

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1. Together with BNP Paribas, the World Bank issued its first Sustainable Development Goals-linked bond. How is it different from green bonds?

a. The proceeds of the bond sale must go to projects supporting all 17 SDGs at once
b. The SDG bond is not a traditional fixed income product. It follows a pay-for-success model, with payout to investors should the world meet at least 90 percent of the agreed SDGs targets by 2030
c. Returns will be linked to the performance of an index of companies pledged to SDG goals.
d. This is getting so creative. It’s not finance. It’s art.  

2. An AgTech accelerator in North Carolina led funding for Boragen, its first startup. What does Boragen do?

a. Boring stuff.
b. Genius stuff.
c. Something Ag, something Tech…a tractor?
d. Boron-based synthetic fungicides.

3. According to Antony Bugg-Levine, what’s the question at the heart of the healthcare debate?

a. Can insurers, beneficiaries and care providers craft a win-win-win?
b. Non-reconstructive plastic surgeries are hobbling health insurers’ balance sheets.
c. How do we reward those most efficient at keeping people healthy?
d. ObamaCare(d), so why doesn’t TrumpCare?

4. How did Antony Bugg Levine share his thoughts?

a. First in a twitter storm, and then in a guest post on ImpactAlpha.
b. First with his family and, with their approval, on ImpactAlpha.
c. First to himself, then he called his friend Jenna, who changed his mind on a few things, then on a restaurant napkin at a Burger King just outside of Penn Station. How that made its way to ImpactAlpha, nobody really knows.
d. He sang them. It was beautiful. Many people held back tears.

5. According to the Indian Space Research Organization, what could power all of India by 2030?

a. Solar from the Himalayas.
b. Coal imports from Australia.
c. A slate of new nuclear fusion power plants in Gujarat.
d. Helium-rich dust from the moon.

6. Why was that last question not funny?

a. Good point, just noticed that myself.
b. Because we’ve entered the dark age. There is no time for humor.
c. But it’s hilarious! Moon dust! Nuclear Fusion!
d. What’s next? Dad jokes?

7. What is the share of discretionary spending expected to be controlled by women by 2028?

a. Who makes stats about 2028? That’s like a fly-over year.
b. 100%, if a UN Resolution comes to pass.
c. 80% according to the World Bank.
d. 75%, according to many sources quoting the Boston Consulting Group. Bonus point for sending us the original report.  

8. To combat smog, Beijing plans to move 70,000 taxis from gas to electric. What could possibly go wrong?

a. The WTO might block it on anti-competitive grounds.
b. The underlying science is unclear. We need to continue the debate, continue the review and the analysis.
c. China’s dependence on coal means charging electric cars emits more than gas powered vehicles.
d. That’s as much as five percent of the world’s electric vehicles. There won’t be enough spare parts.

9. According to Dennis Price and David Bank, what’s taking over from AI and machine learning as the new hip thing for investors and companies?

a. Owning David Bowie master recordings.
b. Wait did you totally Rick-Roll us with question 7?
c. Yep. I did. Still works.
d. The Sustainable Development Goals.

10. How’s the mobile money market evolved since the launch of M-PESA in Kenya in 2007?

a. M-PESA is still the only game in town. No one’s figured out how to replicate it.
b. 300 mobile money services have created more than 500 million accounts. 
c. 1 billion: Facebook is the world’s largest retail bank, now linking every profile to a mobile banking account.
d. Accounts are up but amounts circulated are down: the fear of Big Brother is real.

11. What’s the outcome of a study of households with solar lamps in Kenya?

a. Solar lamps reduce energy poverty, but not poverty overall. Solar lanterns also lead to better health through reduced indoor pollution and better educational outcomes through longer studying hours. One 10th of the lights are broken after 7 months.
b. Same as a.
c. Different from b.
d. Not d.

That’s it for this week. You probably didn’t learn much, and that’s fine: everyone deserves a break.

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Answers: 1c, 2d, 3c, 4a, 5d, 6a, 7d, 8c, 9d, 10b, 11a, or b.

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