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EmergingFrontierMarkets.comemerging and frontier markets:the unofficial field guideSite
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Romana, Leonardo L.
Based in: Manila,
Philippines
Posted on Wed, 30 Jan 13: Bill Gates: My annual letter--How we measure impact to improve lives, Bill & Melinda Gates Found.(blog), 29 Jan 13: Today I am launching my annual letter. This year, I concentrate on the power of clear goals and accurate measurement--simple concepts really--to improve the lives of the poorest people around the globe. It may not be the sexiest of themes, but the proof of its impact is undeniable. The lives of the poorest have improved more rapidly in the last 15 years than ever before. During that time, the number of people living in extreme poverty has been reduced by half, writes Foundation co-chair/Microsoft founder Ronald McKinnon: The unloved dollar standard, Proj Syndicate, 25 Jan 13 [via Japan Times]: Today, most developing economies still choose to anchor their domestic macro arrangements by stabilizing their exchange rates against the dollar. Meanwhile, to avoid exchange-rate conflict, the US Fed typically stays out of the currency markets. But the dollar's role as int'l anchor is beginning to falter, as emerging markets grow increasingly frustrated by the Fed's near-zero interest-rate policy, which has caused a flood of 'hot' capital inflows from the US, writes Stanford emeritus prof/author of The Unloved Dollar Standard: From Bretton Woods to the rise of China (2012) Olivier Blanchard: We may have avoided the cliffs, but we still face high mountains, IMF (blog), 23 Jan 13: Optimism is in the air, esp. in financial markets. And some cautious optimism may indeed be justified. Compared to where we were at the same time last year, acute risks have decreased. The US has avoided the fiscal cliff, and the euro explosion in Europe did not occur. And uncertainty is lower. But we should be under no illusion. The recovery continues to be slow, indeed much too slow, writes IMF chief economist, on leave from MIT (Barro: Lessons from the fiscal cliff, Proj Synd) [via New Times/Rwanda] Posted on Mon, 28 Jan 13: Bolick/Bush: Solving the immigration puzzle, Wall Street Journal, 25 Jan 13 [courtesy Stanford's Hoover Inst]: The nation's capital is awash with ideas about how to fix US immigration policy. The sudden ferment on this issue, which was largely dormant since efforts at comprehensive reform were torpedoed 5 years ago, is as welcome as it is overdue, write Inst res fellow and fmr Florida governor (Immigration economics: Q&A with economist Peri, Foreign Policy in Focus | Is immigration bad for US workers? The Borjas vs Card debate [PDF, courtesy Age of Migration] Mohamed El-Erian: Beggar thy currency or thy self?, Proj Syndicate, 25 Jan 13 [via New Dawn/Liberia]: Not many nations nowadays seek a strong exchange rate; a few are already actively weakening their currencies. Yet, because an exchange rate is a relative price, all currencies cannot weaken simultaneously. How the world resolves this basic inconsistency over the next few years will have a major impact on prospects for the global economy. Japan is the latest nation to say enough is enough, writes co-chief invest. officer of the global invest. firm PIMCO/fmr pres of the firm that manages Harvard's endowment Global foreign direct investment recovery derails, Unctad Global Investment Trends, 23 Jan 13 [PDF]: Global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows declined by 18% in '12--a level close to the trough reached in '09--due mainly to macro fragility and policy uncertainty for investors. The strong decline of FDI flows is in stark contrast to other macro indicators, incl gross domestic product, trade and employment growth, which all remain in positive territory. The FDI recovery that had started in '10 and '11 will now take longer than expected. FDI flows could rise moderately in '13 and '14, due to slight improvements in macro conditions Posted on Fri, 25 Jan 13: Top 10 quotes of the day from Davos, WEForum (blog):
Posted on Wed, 23 Jan 13: Big bankers defend against critics amid crisis, AP, 23 Jan 13 [via Atlanta Journal Constitution]: Leading world bankers at the World Econ Forum in Davos, Switz. are on the defensive amid demands to regulate their industry more closely following a financial crisis that has battered large chunks of the global economy. Bankers have been widely blamed for the financial crisis that has dramatically reduced the living standards of many. A UN body said Tue that the number of unemployed around the world will rise to a record 202 mln this year (Tunisia gears up to host World Social Forum, Inter Press Svce) McArthur and Wu: The post-2015 development agenda, WEForum (blog), 23 Jan 13: What are the implications of trying to articulate a sustainable development future? The Forum's "Global Agenda Outlook 2013" brought together McArthur, UN Foundation senior fellow, and Wu, Climate Group, China dir: As we look at the final 1,000 days to 2015, how do we make sure that this last stretch goes as well as possible? And while the world has already achieved the 1st Millennium Dev't Goal of cutting income poverty by half, how do we finish the job and end extreme poverty altogether? Fu Jun and M Spence: The continued quest for economic growth, WEForum (blog), 21 Jan 13: The Forum's "Global Agenda Outlook 2013" brought together Nobel Laureate '01 Spence and Beijing Univ School of Gov't dean Fu for a Q&A: Q--Have we come to the end of the road in terms of productivity gains available to us in developed countries?; Will growth be uneven in the developing world?; What is the proper role of the state in helping to foster growth?; What are the systemic risks leaders should be looking out for in 2013 and beyond? Posted on Mon, 21 Jan 13: Robert Shiller: The right metaphor for Obama, Proj Syndicate, 16 Jan 13 [via Korea Herald]: As US Pres Obama begins his 2nd term, he needs a simple way to express his vision and policies for the economy--a metaphor around which support for his policies might crystallize, thereby boosting his admin's political effectiveness. The '08 Obama campaign used the slogan "Change we can believe in". But "change" is not a metaphor for a new gov't: it does not stand for any policies. So, what makes a successful metaphor work?, writes co-creator of the Case-Shiller index of US house prices/Yale prof '100 global challenger' companies from emerging markets, Boston Consult. Group, 15 Jan 13: A consultancy has identified 100 companies from the emerging markets that are growing so quickly overseas that they are reshaping industries and surpassing many traditional multinational companies. A new report, now on its 5th ed., finds that these come from 17 nations and, as in previous years, China and India boast the highest numbers. Brazil is next, followed by Mexico and Russia. Twenty-six of the companies are new to the list, having displaced other firms Finland, S Korea top the table of education 'superpowers', Learning Curve, 27 Nov 12: Finland and S Korea top a new global study carried out independently by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It includes a new global index of cognitive skills and educ attainment, drawing on existing data from the int'l OECD-PISA, TIMMS and PIRLS assessments, as well as data on literacy and school and univ graduation rates. Perennial high-performers Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore are close behind. Of the 40 nations with sufficient data, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia are placed lowest on the index Posted on Fri, 18 Jan 13: More policy work ahead to avoid global crisis relapse, IMF Survey Mag, 17 Jan 13: After avoiding econ collapse following the global financial crisis, policy makers have more work to do and cannot revert to business as usual, IMF chief Lagarde said. She said that decision makers should focus on the real economy and on growth--"not any growth, but growth that can actually deliver jobs." Looking ahead to priorities for 2013, Lagarde said "We stopped the collapse, we should avoid the relapse, and it's not time to relax." She called for action in three key areas Kemal Dervis and Uri Dadush: The inequality challenge, Current History, Jan '13 [courtesy Brookings]: High levels of inequality have become a subject of intense debate, esp. in the US, where inequality has risen sharply over the past 30 years. The rise in inequality in most high-income nations and in many developing nations should be analyzed in the context of other big changes that have affected the global economy over the past 3 decades. Some degree of inequality is a natural part of a market economy--a reflection of the econ incentives that fuel it, write Inst vice pres and Carnegie Endow. int'l econ prog dir New York, London top 'cities of opportunity' study of global economic leaders, PwC, 10 Oct 12: Though NY and London lead cumulative scoring, emerging cities, incl Beijing and Shanghai, are narrowing the gap within key econ indicators, says the 5th edition of 'Cities of Opportunity' released jointly with the Partnership for NY City. In addition to looking at the current performance of 27 cities that are global capitals of finance, commerce and culture, the study for the 1st time analyzes city employment in the most significant job sectors (IBM: Global commuter pain survey | Global parking survey) |