News and Analysis: 29-31 Mar 10 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

Based in: Manila, Philippines

Posted on Wed, 31 Mar 10:

US seeks 4-mth East Jerusalem building freeze in return for direct talks: One of the US admin's requests to Israel regarding the peace process w/ the Palestinians is a 4-mth construction freeze in all parts of East Jerusalem. In exchange, the US would pressure Palestinian Pres Abbas to hold direct talks w/ PM Netanyahu instead of the indirect talks to which the Palestinians have agreed, acc to an Israeli official in Jerusalem, Haaretz/ Israel, 31 Mar 10 (Gorenberg: A guide to Israeli settlements, LA Times, June '09 | Jerusalem's obstructionist construction, Amer Prospect, May '09 | IndieBound/ Book Sense--Q&A w/ historian-journalist Gorenberg)

Joseph Stiglitz: Who do these bankers think they are?--With better regulation, can we tame the financial markets so they'll once again perform the social functions that are their responsibility? This is the challenge facing the US and the rest of the world - and the prognosis is not good. The reason is simple: Though bankers may have done a poor job of managing fincl capital, they have excelled at getting returns out of their investments in political capital. Since the crisis, they have used all their political muscle to resist curbing their bad practices, says Nobel Laureate '01, Harvard Business Rev, Mar '10

L Alfaro, L Iyer and S Shah: India's pockets of prosperity?--Imagine that the US govt designated Long Island a 'special economic zone'. Firms could operate there w/ tax exemptions, minimal red tape, no tariffs on imported inputs, and superior infrastructure. Many firms would want to locate there, boosting industrial activity, exports, and jobs. But would Long Islanders benefit? Would they be willing to sell their land to firms? What if the government acquired the land on behalf of the firms? In India, these questions aren't hypothetical - they have become thorny political problems, note Harvard biz profs and India Strategy consultant, CSMonitor, 31 July 09 ; and

Free zones--Benefits and costs: Free zones generally fall into 1 of 4 categories: free trade zones, export processing zones, special economic zones, or industrial zones. They have emerged on the scene as a planning tool to help boost econ development. Nowadays there are several hundred free zones around the world, and the Middle East/ NAfrica region - the focus of this article - has a fair share of successes. Free zones have their advantages, but their policy pitfalls too, OECD Observer, Nov '09

Posted on Tue, 30 Mar 10:

Bond issue gets Greece 5 billion euros: Greece raised 5 bil. euros Mon w/ a 7-yr bond issue in a crucial 1st borrowing test after the euro zone unveiled a rescue plan last wk to help Athens cope w/ its debt crisis. The bonds were sold at a coupon yield of 5.9%. The bond issue proves Athens can get funds from the bond markets, but it is still borrowing money at roughly twice the cost of Germany's bonds, and the govt has repeatedly warned that the high rates are unsustainable. It had raised another 5 bil. euros earlier this mth, selling 10-yr bonds on a yield of 6.3%, AP (courtesy TheSpec.com/ Canada), 30 Mar 10

How did they fare?--Office markets in intl financial centers: A look at the 4 leading centers - NY, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo - reveals key differences in the effects of the financial crisis and in trends as signs of recovery have appeared. The markets in NY and London were hit harder and more directly by the global banking crisis than the 2 Asian cities. In HK and Tokyo, the ensuing global recession caused the most damage to occupier demand, CB Richard Ellis, Feb '10 (w/ exec sum) [pdf] (London maintains its global competitive property spot, Mar '10)

Posted on Mon, 29 Mar 10:

Michael Boskin: Finance and trade tremors--With the American and world economies in the early stages of postrecession recovery, serious questions remain about the recovery's strength and sustainability. In addition to traditional business-cycle concerns, there is a long list of policy tensions threatening to curb growth, incl: 1) protectionism, 2) currencies, 3) monetary- and fiscal-stimulus exit strategies, and 4) the explosion of public debt, says Stanford prof/ fmr Council Econ Advisers chair, Proj Syndicate (courtesy Japan Times), 27 Mar 10

Olive Room: The day after. . . in Jerusalem--A strategic planning exercise on the path to achieving Mideast peace: In Sep and Oct '08, Rand conducted a series of exercises to help the new US admin address the challenges of the Arab-Israeli conflict (esp the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) as a key component of the broader effort to secure Mideast stability. In May '09, a subset of the exercise participants met again to reassess the results. 2 dominant sentiments emerged from the deliberations: 1) the extraordinary importance of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and 2) the conclusion that the new admin cannot put Arab-Israeli peacemaking on the back burner, Rand, 6 Nov 09 (w/ exec sum)

Fighting corruption in Afghanistan: Corruption is widely recognized to be an extremely serious problem in the nation. Perceptions of pervasive and systematic corruption undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the govt. As a symptiom of poor governance, it constitutes a serious threat to the entire state-building and devt agenda. This report summarizes 6 'vulnerabilities to corruption assessments' by the Asian Devt Bank, UK Dept for Intl Devt, UNDP, and WB, World Bank, released July '09 (w/ overview, 4pp) [pdf]

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