News and Analysis: 17-30 Apr 2014 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

Based in: Manila, Philippines

Posted on Wed, 30 Apr 14:

Latest 'international comparison' results compare real size of world economies, World Bank, 29 Apr 14:
When converting national econ measures (like GDP) into a common currency, Purchasing Power Parities are a more direct measure of what money can buy than exchange rates. The latest round of the Intl Comparison Program covered 199 economies--the most extensive effort to measure PPPs ever. The 5 economies with the highest GDP per capita are Qatar, Macao, Luxembourg, Kuwait, and Brunei

Angus Deaton: America wakes up to inequality again, UK Royal Econ Society Newsletter, Apr '14:
For many years, income inequality was not much of an issue in the US, either among academics, politicians, or in public discourse. Changing events and better data have changed that, and today the topic has moved to the forefront of debate. But when it comes to action there is nothing to match the radicalism of a century ago, writes fmr Amer Econ Assn pres / Princeton U prof

Reducing risks in Asia with macro prudential policies, IMF (blog), by E Zoli, 30 Apr 14:
Booming real estate markets, rapid credit growth and--at least before the Fed's tapering--sustained capital inflows have raised financial stability challenges across many parts of Asia. To address them, policy makers have increasingly made use of macro prudential policies that address the stability of the financial system as a whole rather than that of individual institutions, writes IMF senior economist

Posted on Mon, 28 Apr 14:

Striking shifts in global manufacturing costs over past decade - study, Boston Consulting Group, 25 Apr 14:
A new study finds Mexico is less expensive than China, UK is the low-cost manufacturer of Western Europe, and many emerging markets known for low costs are no longer cheaper than the US. Five economies traditionally regarded as low-cost manufacturing bases--China, Brazil, Czech Republic, Poland, and Russia--have seen their cost advantages erode significantly since '04

Desmond Lachman: Have the limits to economic growth really been reached?, American Mag, 26 Apr 14:
The new high priest of long-term econ pessimism seems to be Robert Gordon, a renowned Northwestern U prof. He has recently argued forcefully that the rapid econ progress made over the past 250 years could very well be a unique episode in human history rather than a guarantee of endless future advance at the same rate, writes Amer Enterp Inst resident fellow

Kemal Dervis: The future of economic progress, Project Syndicate, 15 Apr 14 [courtesy Brookings Inst]:
Slowly but surely, the debate about the nature of economic growth is entering a new phase. The questions surrounding future economic growth are becoming clearer. But we are only at the start of the process of creating the new conceptual framework that will structure the discussion of economic progress--and economic policy--from now on, writes Inst vice pres / fmr UNDP head

Posted on Fri, 25 Apr 14:

Jeffrey Sachs: Putin's perilous course, Project Syndicate, 21 Apr 14:
Putin no doubt hopes to create facts on the ground--as in Crimea--without provoking a severe Western reaction. But his adventurism in Ukraine is likely to end very badly for Russia. In the short term, Russia has ample foreign-exchange reserves to offset capital outflows; but the reversal of capital flows will begin to bite within a matter of months, writes Columbia U Earth Inst dir

EU criticized for failure to transfer technology, SciDevNet, 4 Apr 14:
European nations contribute less to global technological development than other developed nations, and are pursuing intellectual property policies that are not 'development friendly', according to a study by the Center for Global Development. European nations were found to be lagging behind Australia, Japan, New Zealand, SKorea and US in providing such support

David Pilling: When economic growth benefits only a few, OECD Yearbook, Mar '14:
The concept of 'inclusive growth' is one that, surely, no one could object to. It is the sort of uncontroversial idea, like 'sustainable development', to which even the most well-heeled attendee of a charity auction could happily raise their champagne glass. But what does it actually mean?, asks Asia editor of Financial Times

Posted on Wed, 23 Apr 14:

Robert Solow: Everything you need to know about 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century', New Republic, 22 Apr 14:
Imagine someone whose income comes entirely from accumulated wealth. If you leave $100 in a bank account paying 3% interest, your balance will increase by 3% each year. This is Piketty's main point: as long as the rate of return (on capital) exceeds the rate of growth (of the conomy), the income and wealth of the rich will grow faster than the typical income from work, writes Nobel Laureate '87 / MIT emeritus Inst prof

Inequality seriously damages growth, IMF seminar hears, IMF Survey Mag, 12 Apr 14:
Growth and inequality are mutually incompatible, participants agreed at a high-level seminar held during the IMF-World Bank meetings, but they differed sharply about the priorities to address the rise in inequality over recent decades. Income inequality has risen throughout the world. Previously, inequality was thought to be the price for a functioning global economy

Charles Wolf: A liberated yuan is likely to fall, Wall St Journal, 21 Apr 14 [courtesy Hoover Inst]:
Prior to '14, US lawmakers denounced interventions by China's central bank that prevented the yuan's rise to what critics construed to be an appropriately higher, market-based value. Now critics in the financial media have reversed direction, claiming that the central bank is contriving to weaken the yuan's value, thereby seeking to promote its exports, writes Inst senior res fellow / Rand's chair in intl econ

Posted on Mon, 21 Apr 14:

US discovers a rock star economist from France, New York Times, 19 Apr 14 [via Telegraph India]:
French economists who boldly question the dominance of capital over labor--and call for a progressive global tax on wealth--visit the American halls of power about as often as French rock stars headline Madison Square Garden. But those halls of power are where a 42-year-old prof at the Paris School of Economics, Thomas Piketty, has been singing his song of late

Clive Crook: The most important book ever is all wrong, BloombergView, 20 Apr 14:
It's hard to think of another econ book published in the past several decades that's been praised as lavishly as Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century. The adulation tells you something. Its defects, in my view, are greater than its strengths--but the rapturous reception proves that the book, one way or another, meets a need, writes fmr chief Wash. commentator of FT / fmr deputy ed. of Economist

John Campbell: Congress and the IMF -- Letter to the ed., Economist, 10 Apr 14 [courtesy House of Reps.]:
You depicted the refusal of the US Congress to endorse reforms to the way the IMF receives its income as "shameful" and "driven largely by ignorance". You also asserted that we in Congress "misunderstand both the organization and its reforms". This could not be further from the truth, writes chair of House subcmte on monetary policy & trade (Ukraine aid stalls as Congress spars over IMF reform, HuffPost)

Posted on Thu, 17 Apr 14:

Jakarta, Manila, Addis Ababa rank at top of 'emerging cities' index, ATKearney, 15 Apr 14:
Jakarta, Manila, Addis Ababa, Sao Paulo, and New Delhi are the top 5 emerging cities, while New York and London remain the world's most global cities, acc. to the latest Global Cities Index. This year, the index also includes the Emerging Cities Outlook, a forward-looking measurement of emerging cities with the potential to improve their global standing in the next 10 to 20 years

Policy decisions are best made early - Fed nominee Fischer, Reuters, 14 Mar 14:
Stanley Fischer, Pres Obama's pick for the No.2 job at the Fed, said that decades of crisis-fighting have taught him the importance of making policy decisions quickly, even before all relevant data is in hand. "We tend to underestimate the lags in receiving information and the lags with which policy decisions affect the economy," he said (Fischer tapped for 'contributions to econ policy' award, Stanford Report)

Why everybody who doesn't hate bitcoin loves it, New York Times, 8 Apr 14 [via Economic Times/India]:
Susan Athey, an award-winning Stanford economist with a background in computer science, is a big believer in the technology supporting bitcoin. (Athey advises the company behind Ripple, which is bitcoin's top competitor by market cap.) For Athey, bitcoin's power has to do with its simplicity. There is, of course, a flip side to the ease of transaction that bitcoin affords

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