News and Analysis: 17-31 Oct 2014 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

Based in: Manila, Philippines

Posted on Fri, 31 Oct 14:

Mobilizing social science to fight Ebola, Social Science Space, 22 Oct 14:
The National Science Foundation is looking to the social sciences as the US continues to evolve its response to Ebola. The NSF dir last week issued a 'dear colleague' letter soliciting shovel-ready research "to better understand how to model and understand the spread of Ebola, and encourage learning that can address this global challenge" (Int'l Growth Ctr: Call for proposals - Ebola)

Emerging capital markets poised for growth to 2030, CS Global Trends, 9 July 14:
For the most part, emerging-country capital markets remain underdeveloped relative to the size of their economies despite rapid growth in capital-raising over the past two decades. A new study looking forward over the next one-and-a-half decades, "Emerging Capital Markets: The road to 2030", suggests that this gap will close

Making the case for Keynes, MIT News, 16 Sep 14:
In a new book on the subject, Keynes: Useful Economics for the World Economy, MIT's Peter Temin and Oxford's David Vines make the case that Keynesian deficit spending by govts is necessary to reignite the levels of growth that Europe and the world had come to expect prior to the '08 econ downturn (U Victoria's Rutherford: Famous economists' grave sites)

Posted on Wed, 29 Oct 14:

'Ease of doing business' rankings use expanded data analysis, World Bank, 29 Oct 14:
Singapore tops the list of business-friendly economies in the world, acc. to the Doing Business 2015 report, followed by New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark, and S Korea. Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest number of business reforms compared to other regions and 5 of the top 10 most-improved nations (Economy rankings)

Dani Rodrik: Why an African growth miracle is unlikely, Milken Inst Review, Oct-Dec '14 [PDF]:
My prognosis for sub-Saharan Africa is on the pessimistic side, due to what I think are poor prospects for structural change and industrialization. Perhaps Africa will prove the skeptics wrong. But if so, my guess is that it will be because these nations have devised an alternative to the engine that propelled rapid growth in Asia, writes Inst Advanced Study prof

Coffers: Annamaria Lusardi -- The quest for financial enlightenment, Project M, Aug '14:
To the best of my knowledge, Santa Claus has not yet announced an IPO for his toy factory. But if he does, I am sure my niece Giorgia would be willing to invest. For now, index funds will have to do. Though only 6 years old, she is starting to show an even better understanding of financial concepts than many adults, writes George Washington U prof (Duke U's Ariely: We don't need no financial education)

Posted on Mon, 27 Oct 14:

Avoiding the blind alley - China's economic overhaul and its global implications, Asia Society Policy Inst, 22 Oct 14:
In Nov '13, to justify the risks, Pres Xi quoted an impassioned plea for policy modernization by Deng Xiaoping: the only way to avoid a dead end - a blind alley - is to deepen reform at home and opening to the world. Yet observers have found several reasons to wonder what shape the reform program will take, writes Inst fellow / author of new report on China's economy

Panel debates moves to spur growth, create jobs, IMF Survey Mag, 15 Oct 14:
Infrastructure investment and other structural reforms--as well as the troublesome rise in inequality and youth unemployment--were key topics of debate at a confab held on the eve of the IMF-WB annual meet. The confab brought together policy makers, academics, and representatives from think-tanks and int'l orgs to discuss how to ignite and sustain job-rich and inclusive growth

Claire Melamed: The other half - To end inequality, we must understand poverty, Aeon Magazine (UK), 24 Sep 14:
Before, institutions like the World Bank and charities like Oxfam described their goal as simply 'ending poverty', today they tend to frame things in terms of poverty and inequality. While it may seem intuitively obvious that these 2 things must be connected in some way, yet those links can be surprisingly hard to bring into focus, writes Overseas Dev't Inst (UK) growth, poverty & inequality prog dir

Posted on Fri, 24 Oct 14:

China, 21 other Asian countries to launch bank opposed by US, AP, 24 Oct 14 [via Macleans/Canada]:
China and 21 other Asian nations signed on Fri to a new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that US opposes as an unnecessary rival to established institutions such as the World Bank. Those taking part include India along with smaller nations such as Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines and Mongolia (Three major nations absent as China launches World Bank rival in Asia, Reuters)

Goodall and Oswald: Do the social sciences need a shake-up?, Times Higher Educ (UK), 9 Oct 14:
A brave, intriguing and fiery op-ed article appeared last year in NY Times. Written by Nicholas Christakis, Human Nature Lab dir and Inst Network Science co-dir at Yale, it was highly critical of the way that modern social science is done, write City U senior lecturer; and U Warwick prof (Q&A with Christakis, LSE [blog] | LSE event: Do we need to shake up the social sciences?) [via Social Science Space]

One currency, one price?, MIT News, 1 Apr 14:
Economics has a 'law of one price', which states that identical goods should, in theory, sell for identical prices -- or else markets will even out the differences. Empirical work on the topic, however, has produced little evidence in support. Now a newly published paper by 2 MIT economists (Rigobon and Cavallo), with another from U Chicago (Neiman), presents supporting evidence within the Eurozone

Posted on Wed, 22 Oct 14:

Easterlin: Why our happiness and satisfaction should replace GDP in policy making, Conversation (Australia), 21 Oct 14:
Since '90, GDP per person in China has doubled and then redoubled. With average incomes multiplying 4-fold in little more than 2 decades, one might expect many of the Chinese people to be dancing in the streets. Yet, when asked about their satisfaction with life, they are, if anything, less satisfied than in '90, writes author of the article "Does econ growth improve the human lot?"(1974) / Univ S Calif prof

My name is Richard and I am an addict - an Apple addict, Guardian, by R Seymour, 10 Sep 14:
Help me. This is not normal behavior. The company exerts a tyranny over users and overcharges for its technology, yet the Apple Watch is going straight on my wish list. The Apple that in '84 railed against Big Brother has become Big Brother. It is also a parasite (U Sussex's Mazzucato: Steve Jobs and industrial policy, Lond Times | New Statesman SPERI prize for political economy) [via author's site]

Have 'Special Economic Zones' entered the 21st century yet? A tale of two cities, World Bank (blog), 28 Mar 14:
At a recent World Free Zone convention in Turkey, that important question was asked. Evidence shows that, in many ways, they have -- but in many instances we are still seeing across the globe the same isolated economic enclaves with few linkages to the local market and little economy-wide impact

Posted on Mon, 20 Oct 14:

Reform-minded outsider Widodo takes over as Indonesia's president, Reuters, 20 Oct 14:
Indonesia's Joko Widodo took over as pres of the world's 3rd-largest democracy on Mon with supporters' hopes high but pressing econ problems and skeptical rivals set to test the fmr businessman. One of his 1st jobs will be cutting back generous fuel subsidies to avoid breaching a legal limit on the budget deficit, which is under pressure from a shortfall in tax revenues

Revisiting industrial policy in Latin America, Brookings (blog), by D Bahar, 2 Oct 14:
'Industrial policy' is not music to the ears of many. It brings back memories of previous attempts to pursue policies of heavily subsidizing or imposing high tariffs on 'hand-picked' sectors. This led to undesirable rent-seeking behavior and, quite frankly, not a great deal of diversification. So, why is this again on the agenda for some nations?, asks Inter-Amer Dev't Bank senior assoc economist

China's stance on "mega deals" will shape world trading system - report, Ctr Int'l Governance Innov, 14 July 14:
China can influence the future development of the int'l trading system by its stance toward 'mega deals', says a recent report by C Li, J Wang and J Whalley. The report proposes a broader definition of the term 'mega deal' than its limited use in relation to two large prospective trade deals -- the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific pacts

Posted on Fri, 17 Oct 14:

Global financial shocks - What can emerging economies do?, Univ Chicago, by S Davies, 2 Sep 14:
In a forum in Singapore, U Calif. Berkeley's Obstfeld assessed the capacity of emerging markets to use monetary policy and macroprudential tools to moderate the domestic effects of global financial forces. A 1st order of biz is to recognize the power of global financial forces to create and amplify stresses in emerging-market financial systems and to rock their economies, writes U Chicago prof

'I became an economist thanks to a Russian satellite,' Credit Swiss Global Trends, 26 Aug 14:
Q&A with Laura Tyson, advisor to Obama and the 1st dean of the London Business School. Q--It appears that people in the West are becoming increasingly skeptical about globalization. What went wrong?; If Hillary Clinton decides to run for pres, how would you respond if she were to ask you: "Laura, what are the best instruments for promoting upward mobility for as many people as possible?"

Coffee/Tea Room: What it's like to carry your Nobel Prize through airport security, Scientific Amer (blog), 10 Oct 14:
"When I won this, my grandma, who lives in Fargo, NDakota, wanted to see it. I was coming around so I decided I'd bring my Nobel Prize. You would think that carrying it around would be uneventful and it was, until I tried to leave Fargo with it, and went through the X-ray machine. I could see they were puzzled. It was in my laptop bag. It's made of gold, so it absorbs all the X-rays"

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