News and Analysis: 23 Apr- 4 May 12 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

Based in: Manila, Philippines

Posted on Fri, 4 May 12:

Book value: Francis Fukuyama -- Acemoglu and Robinson on 'Why Nations Fail', Weblog at Amer Interest, 26 Mar 12:
The 2 authors have published a big book on development that will attract a lot of attention. While the latest fad in dev't studies has been to conduct controlled randomized experiments on a host of micro questions, by contrast, the two have resolutely focused on only the largest of macro questions: how contemporary institutions were shaped by colonial ones, or why it was that regions of the world that were the richest in the year 1500 are among the world's poorest today, says Stanford U senior fellow/ author of The Origins of Political Order (2011) (Response to Fukuyama's review, Authors' Weblog, 30 Apr)

New report reveals New York, London, Singapore in top ranking of world's most competitive cities, Citigroup, 12 Mar 12:
A new commissioned report reveals that NY, London and Singapore rank 1st, 2nd and 3rd in competitiveness, out of 120 of the world's major cities. The report, entitled Hot Spots [PDF, 6MB], ranks the most competitive cities for their demonstrated ability to attract capital, business, talent and tourists. Also in the top 10 are Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Zurich, Washington, Chicago, and Boston

Seminar Room: The virtues of blogging as scholarly activity, Weblog at Chronicle of Higher Educ, by M Weller, 29 Apr 12:
I have been an active blogger since '06, and I often say that becoming one was the best decision I have ever made. However, while blogging works for me, it might not work for you. Maybe you're more of a YouTube person, or a podcaster, or maybe your skill really lies in acting as a filter and a curator, which allows you to curate and share resources on a particular topic. Or maybe you're the trusted source for finding the valuable research in your field. What's clear is that our academic ecosystem is now more complex

Posted on Wed, 2 May 12:

Dani Rodrik: Getting globalization right--The Japanese exception, Weblog at OECD, 2 May 12 [with Americas Quarterly]:
In the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, globalization enabled new technologies to disseminate in areas with the right preconditions, but also entrenched a long-term division between the 'core' and the 'periphery'. Geography and natural endowments largely determined nations' econ fates under the 1st era of globalization, until 1914. One major exception to this rule would ultimately become an inspiration to all commodity-dependent nations, says Harvard U prof/ inaugural Albert Hirschman Prize awardee '07 of the Soc Sci Res Council in NY (The East Asian tigers | China marches to its own beat)

Don't demonize finance after crisis - Shiller, IMF Survey Mag, 1 May 12:
Despite the widespread repercussion from the global financial crisis, finance should be embraced rather than demonized, says Yale's Robert Shiller. In a new book, Finance and the Good Society, he argues that access to finance should be enlarged. In it, he describes how finance, through inventions like insurance, mortgages, and pensions, has historically benefited society. He suggests that "finance is a powerful tool we can use for the public good"

Jim O'Neill: Apple, China and the growth markets, Goldman Sachs, 28 Apr 12 [PDF]:
A number of so-called emerging economies are now so big, that it is ridiculous to think of them as traditional emerging markets. Currently, we think this applies to a group of 8, each of the 4 BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China, along with Indonesia, S Korea, Mexico and Turkey. Collectively, they are already 25% of the world economy. Here, we call them 'Growth Markets', says GS Asset Mgmt chair, who coined the acronym 'BRIC'

Posted on Mon, 30 Apr 12:

Survey reveals world's mining hot spots, Fraser Inst, 23 Feb 12:
Canada's New Brunswick is the world's most attractive jurisdiction for mineral exploration and dev't in the int'l mining industry's view, acc to the 'Survey of Mining Companies 2011/12', released recently by a think tank. The survey, conducted yearly since '97, now includes 93 jurisdictions worldwide, incl sub-national jurisdictions in Argentina, Australia, Canada and US. Also in the top 10 are Finland, Alberta, Wyoming, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Sweden, Nevada, Ireland, and the Yukon

Deep danger--Competing claims in the South China Sea, Current History, by Marvin Ott, Sep '11 [PDF, courtesy Viet Studies]:
In the region's capitals, after years of giving credence to China's portrayal of itself in 'soft-power' terms, unease and doubt have grown perceptibly regarding China's growing 'hard-power' capabilities and apparent strategic intent. These doubts are provoked - not exclusively, but in substantial part - by China's statements, actions, and military buildup with regard to the South China Sea (South China Sea is strategic bellwether for US--experts, Ctr New Amer Security, Jan '12: Report | Media release)

Labor Day feature -- On labor unions: Q&A with economist Richard Freeman, Five Books, Mar '11:
Leading labor economist from Harvard and London Sch Econ discusses the history and theory of unions. Q: You wrote (with James Medoff) what remains the most-cited book on US unions, What Do Unions Do? Please tell us about your seminal work; Your work seems greatly influenced by that of economist Albert Hirschman. Can you please expound on the theory put forth in Hirschman's treatise, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, and explain how you applied it to unions?

Posted on Fri, 27 Apr 12:

Austerity, and a new recession? - Q&A with Joseph Stiglitz, European Mag, 23 Apr 12:
Austerity policies are driving us towards a double-dip recession, warns Nobel Laureate '01. Q: Four years after the beginning of the financial crisis, are you encouraged by the ways in which economists have tried to make sense of it, and by the ways in which those insights have been taken up by policy makers?; You have written that the challenge is to respond to bad ideas not with rejection but with better ideas. Where is the longest and strongest lever to bring new econ thinking into the realm of policy?

Cure for debt hangover - Stop stimulus spending: John Taylor, Barron's, 21 Apr 12:
Stanford's Taylor is perhaps best-known as the creator of the 'Taylor Rule', which seeks to determine the Federal Reserve's interest-rate target according to a simple formula. He has also become an outspoken critic of both fiscal and monetary policy as practiced over recent years. He believes that gov't econ policies should be constrained and predictable, rather than ad hoc and discretionary. In particular, he is extremely leery of stimulus spending, and the looming possibility of QE3

Nancy Birdsall: I finally visited a Millennium Village - Some reflections, Ctr Global Dev't, 20 Mar 12:
For those who don't already know, the idea of the villages is to demonstrate Jeffrey Sachs's longstanding contention that with enough money to fund adequately enough interventions (agric, health, schooling, water, protection of natural resources) in the poorest parts of the world, the poverty and other Millennium Dev't Goals can be achieved by 2015. My visit thrilled and discouraged me, says Ctr founding pres/fmr Inter-Amer Dev't Bank exec vice-pres

Posted on Wed, 25 Apr 12:

Kemal Dervis: A world of convergence, Project Syndicate, 24 Apr 12 [courtesy Gulf Times/Qatar):
For almost 2 centuries, starting around 1800, the history of the global economy was broadly one of divergence in average incomes. In relative terms, rich nations got even richer. There was growth in the poorer nations too, but it was slower, and the discrepancy in prosperity between rich and poor nations increased. This 'divergence' was very pronounced in colonial times. It slowed after the 1940s, but it was only around 1990 that an entirely new trend could be observed, says Brookings Inst vice-pres/ fmr UNDP head

Kenneth Rogoff: A euro parable - The young couple with a joint account, FT, 24 Apr 12 [PDF, courtesy Harvard]:
Perhaps the following parable is not entirely fair to the euro, but nevertheless the parallels seem striking. Consider a young couple who is contemplating marriage, but unsure whether to take the big step. So instead they decide to test things out by opening a joint bank account. At first things go remarkably smoothly. Heady with success, they get the inspiration of extending the arrangement to her brother and his sister, says co-author with C Reinhart of award-winning book This Time is Different (2009)/ fmr IMF chief economist (Krugman: Rogoff’s bad parable, Weblog at NYT)

Stirring up the South China Sea, Int'l Crisis Group, 23 Apr 12:
China is one of its own worst enemies in the South China Sea, as its local govts and agencies struggle for power and money, inflaming tensions with its neighbors. A new report, Stirring up the South China Sea, exposes the domestic political and econ contradictions undermining China's efforts to restore relations with its neighbors, as the US expands its influence in the energy-rich and strategically important sea. Escalating tensions since '09 have dealt a severe blow to China and significantly tarnished its image

Posted on Mon, 23 Apr 12:

IMF, with firewall pledged, targets growth and jobs, IMF Survey Mag, 21 Apr 12:
The IMF, buoyed by pledges to contribute more than $430 bln to a reinforced anti-crisis firewall, set its sights on rekindling growth, restoring confidence, and creating jobs to put the global economy on a sustained recovery track. While getting budgets and debt under control is important, it is equally important to spur growth and get it back to normal levels within 2–3 years. Without growth, fiscal sustainability is not possible

Three quarters of the world's poor are "unbanked", World Bank, 19 Apr 12:
These people don't have a bank account, not only because of poverty, but the cost, travel distance and amount of paper work involved in opening an account, acc to new data released by the WB. The research offers the most comprehensive picture of how adults around the world save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. More than half of the pop. in developing nations doesn't have a bank account, compared with just 10% in rich nations (Infographic)

Coffers: Why buy and hold doesn't work anymore - Q&A with MIT financial economist Andrew Lo, Money Mag, 2 Mar 12:
Plenty of smart people think that Lo knows what he's talking about. In addition to teaching at MIT, he has advised the gov't on ways to limit the damage from future financial crises. He also runs a money-management firm that seeks to put his ideas to work. Lo argues that the buy-and-hold method of investing (long considered gospel by index fund managers and this mag) doesn't effectively limit the risks of today's markets (Could financial engineering help retool society's ills?, Santa Fe New Mexican)

EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

emerging and frontier markets:

the unofficial field guide