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EmergingFrontierMarkets.comemerging and frontier markets:the unofficial field guideSite
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Romana, Leonardo L.
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Philippines
Posted on Fri, 24 Aug 12: Athens shows its commitment to austerity, Der Spiegel, 22 Aug 12: When Greece's PM Samaras travels to Berlin on Fri, his role will be clear: the conservative PM is coming as a supplicant who is being forced to ask for more financial assistance for his hard-hit nation. But many German politicians accuse Greece of not doing enough to cut spending. However, studies show that, measured in relative terms, Athens has carried out the most brutal austerity program in the EU's history. Greece's PM is making it clear that he wants to change his country's culture of cronyism Asia's role in the post-crisis global economy, San Francisco Fed, by R Glick and M Spiegel, 13 Aug 12 In the wake of the global financial crisis of 2007/08, Asia has emerged as a pillar of financial stability and econ growth. A recent SF Fed conference focused on Asia's changing role in the global economy. A key confab theme was that the global financial crisis demonstrated that Asian nations cannot "go it alone". And while Asia suffered heavily in the global crisis, the policy reforms put in place after the '97 Asian financial crisis left the region relatively well-equipped to weather the severe shocks of the 2007/08 period P Romer and O Sanchez: Urban prosperity in the Honduran 'RED', Globe and Mail, 25 Apr 12: With the near unanimous support of its Congress, Honduras recently defined a new legal entity: la Región Especial de Desarrollo. A RED is an independent reform zone intended to offer jobs and safety to families who lack a good alternative; officials in the RED will be able to partner with foreign govts in critical areas such as policing, jurisprudence and transparency, say NYU prof, and Honduran pres.'s chief of staff (Replicating Hong Kong, Development Asia, Apr-June '12 [PDF] | The many obstacles to a Honduran utopia) Posted on Wed, 22 Aug 12: Russia joins World Trade Org after 19-year wait, EurActiv, 22 Aug 12: Russia officially joined the WTO today, ending a long wait to become part of the global club. Internal critics have claimed its WTO accession is detrimental to the nation's sovereignty and security, and could ruin some of its industries. But a UK biz group welcomed it, saying the move would help turn Moscow into an int'l financial center and liberalize trade (Breakthrough on approval of a US trade accord with Russia, Peterson Inst | Russia's export diversification through competition and innovation-Overview, World Bank) [PDF] "Prosperity is all about political institutions and politics"--MIT’s Acemoglu, Truman Factor/Spain, 30 Apr 12: Q&A with Daron Acemoglu, John Bates Clark Medal '05 awardee for economists under 40/co-author of Why Nations Fail (2012). Q: What led you to look for the link of econ growth to political institutions?; It would seem that there is somewhat of a paradoxical situation taking place today in societies with open political structures and advanced economies, as they are now experiencing widening social cleavages. What is causing this reversal? (Why aren't all countries rich?, Richmond Fed, Apr-June '11) [PDF] Rise of the new rich, Knight Frank/Citi Wealth Report, by G Gilmore, 26 Mar 12: Our research shows that while China and India are likely to grow rapidly over the next 40 years, there are other key nations with promising chances for growth that do not necessarily match the traditional assumptions about where future growth will come from. For example, Russia and Brazil do not make it on to our list of Global Growth Generators--or '3G' nations. Instead, we include nations such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam Posted on Mon, 20 Aug 12: Why is Islamic finance important for business school students?, Independent, by C de Anca, 6 Aug 12: There are a number of business schools now introducing Islamic finance in their curriculums. For some, the reasoning is to open students up to different cultural realities, but for many schools, it just makes business sense. We can identify three main reasons why it is important to include Islamic finance in the curriculum of students in a business school (Islamic banking--Put to the test, Finance & Dev't, Dec '10 | Good for growth?) Edward Skidelsky: We need the good life, not pre-washed salad leaves, Guardian, 23 July 12: What does a human being need? We can agree on the biological basics: food, water, shelter. But beyond that, confusion reigns. Do you need a TV? A university degree? An iPad? Nothing is more apt to annoy us than other people's idea of what they need, esp. when they are richer than us. ("We just need the nanny annex," said a friend recently.) In our new book, How Much is Enough?, my father Robert and I try to rescue the idea of the good life from the snobbery that has so often disfigured it, says Exeter Univ lecturer Branko Milanovic: Adam Smiths of capital, Friedrich Lists of labor, Globalist, 4 June 12: It is taken for granted these days that globalization involves free cross-border movements of capital, goods and services, technology, innovations, and even ideologies. Why then do people who consider themselves pro-free market take radically different positions on the mobility of capital and labor?, asks World Bank senior economist/author of The Haves and the Have-Nots: A brief and idiosyncratic history of global inequality (2011) Posted on Fri, 17 Aug 12: Hassett and Hubbard: Obama inconsistent on pace of economic recovery, Wash.Post, 15 Aug 12 [courtesy Amer Enterp Inst]: Pres Obama's principal econ argument for reelection now appears to be that he has an excuse for the economy's extremely weak recovery from the deep recession of 2007/09: that recoveries after financial crises are always slow, say Romney econ advisers/Inst econ policy studies dir, and fmr chair of Pres G W Bush's Council of Econ Advisers
Nancy Birdsall: Clicks to policy bricks - Can innovation jumpstart development transformation?, Ctr Global Dev't, 6 Aug 12: I participated in a recent conversation about innovation and tech for dev't at the Brookings Blum Roundtable in Aspen. Amazing changes are happening out there that exploit new info tech, improving the lives of the poor and vulnerable. But a big unanswered question for me is clicks to bricks: are these going to generate sustained growth (economics) or undo the elite duplicity that in low-income nations sustains corrupt public institutions (politics)?, asks Ctr pres/fmr EVP of Inter-Amer Dev't Bank Radical ideas, pragmatic approach, Gulf News, Jan '11: Ha-Joon Chang is a leading economist whose recent book 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism (2011) has been attracting rave reviews for deconstructing some commonly held myths about free markets and the world we live in. We interviewed him in his office at Univ Cambridge. This is a man with some very high-profile admirers, incl Bob Geldof and Ecuador pres Rafael Correa (Chang: Africa needs an active industrial policy to sustain its growth, Guardian, 15 July 12) Posted on Wed, 15 Aug 12: World powers weigh emergency meeting on food prices, Reuters, 13 Aug 12 [courtesy Swissinfo]: France, US and G20 chair Mexico will hold a conference call at the end of Aug to discuss whether an emergency int'l meeting is required to tackle soaring grain prices caused by the worst US drought in half a century. A French agric ministry official said the call would decide whether to convene the 1st meeting of the G20's Rapid Response Forum (An effective response to the US drought can prevent another global food crisis, Int'l Food Policy Res Inst | Arkansas, N Carolina ask EPA to waive ethanol mandate, Reuters) [courtesy Yahoo] Tokyo is world's most expensive city, Karachi is cheapest, Mercer HR, 12 June 12: Tokyo is the world's most expensive city for expats, pushing Luanda, Angola, down to No.2, acc to the latest Cost of Living Survey. Osaka is No.3, while Moscow remains No.4 and Geneva is No.5. Singapore and Zurich share 6th place. Karachi, Pakistan is ranked as the least expensive city. Recent world events, incl econ and political upheavals, have affected the rankings for many regions through currency fluctuations, inflation, and volatility in accommodation prices Congressional Budget Office gives a familiar, bleak forecast--Q&A with Rep. Paul Ryan, Fox News, 7 June 12 [courtesy US Congress]: Ryan sounds off on the CBO's warning that the govt's mounting debt could be twice the size of the economy in 25 years and more. Q: I hear from both Republicans and Democrats that we have this 'fiscal cliff' that we're about to go over, and the Republicans say to solve it is by cutting taxes, revving up the economy. The Democrats say that the way to do it is to increase taxes. You both have solutions, but the one thing you both agree on is that we are really headed in the wrong direction Posted on Mon, 13 Aug 12: Barry Eichengreen: Europe's summer reading list, Project Syndicate, 13 Aug 12 [courtesy Mmegi/Botswana]: In Aug, Europeans head for the beach. The continent shuts down on the assumption that nothing of consequence will happen until everyone returns, suitably tanned, in Sep. The Aug holiday is a venerable tradition. So, what should Europeans be reading beneath their sun umbrellas this year? The continent's leaders, while relaxing on southern Europe's crisis-ridden shores, should take the message of these books to heart, says fmr IMF senior policy adviser/UC-Berkeley prof Lawrence Summers: Focus on equality of opportunity, not outcomes, Reuters, 16 July 12: Even if the process of econ recovery proves protracted, the US economy will eventually recover, and cyclical issues will cease to dominate the econ conversation. It is likely that issues relating to inequality will move to the forefront. There is no question that income is distributed substantially more unequally than it was a generation ago. These issues frame an important part of the econ debate in this election year, says fmr chair of Pres. Obama's Nat'l Econ Council/Harvard prof The new global challengers, Univ Michigan, 18 June 12: Emerging nations, long seen as a source of low-cost services such as manufacturing and IT support, now are home to a new breed of multinational company. How serious of a threat are they to dominant multinationals in the West? How can companies with lower R&D budgets, less access to talent, little brand awareness, and a reputation for low quality keep the likes of the General Electric CEO up at night? A new book sheds some light (Will multinationals from the emerging world take over?, Insead) |