News and Analysis: 2-13 Feb 2015 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

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Posted on Fri, 13 Feb 15:

Ukraine's econ crisis is deep; it needs loans faster than you may think, Atlantic Council, 10 Feb 15 [via UC-Berkeley]:
Amid the drama of Ukraine's war against Russia's assault in the southeast, and the recent argument over whether the US should help it with weapons, it's too easy to lose focus on the depth of what is really a more immediate, existential threat -- Ukraine's economic crisis, writes Berkeley prof (IMF agrees $17.5 bil. reform program for Ukraine)

J Sachs and L Sachs: The responsible investor's guide to climate change, Project Syndicate, 29 Jan 15:
Around the world, institutional investors - incl pension funds, insurance firms, philanthropic endowments, and univs - are grappling with the question of whether to divest from oil, gas, and coal firms. The reason is climate change. Yet there is an ethically responsible and practical alternative to divestment, write Columbia's Earth Inst dir; and Ctr Sustainable Invest. dir

Laurence Kotlikoff: The clash of generations, Credit Suisse, 21 Oct 14:
The clash is one of funding shortfalls and ever increasing consumption by older people at the expense of coming generations. It's most evident in the case of retirement provision. It's happening in the US, Western Europe, China and Japan. Young people don't realize it yet, but they are going to have to pay the bill, says Boston U prof

Posted on Wed, 11 Feb 15:

Greek finance minister enters euro zone lions' den, Reuters, 11 Feb 14:
The Greek finance min headed for a showdown with euro zone finance mins on Wed after his new gov't won a parliamentary confidence vote for its refusal to extend an int'l bailout. He has proposed a six-month transition in which Greece would be allowed to issue more short-term debt and tap unused bank rescue funds, while renegoting its debt

Ricardo Hausmann: Build agencies to rate public policy, McKinsey, Jan '15:
The avenue to economic growth is often blocked by an inadequate supply of productivity-enhancing public goods. Governments need to improve the provision of millions of different public goods. Given this complexity and the vast and changing array of needs, how can this be accomplished efficiently?, asks Harvard Ctr Int'l Dev't dir

Quah: Convergence determines governance -- within and without, Brookings, 12 Nov 14 [via author's blog]:
Convergence across nation-states is about the poor catching up with the rich, even as growth continues for all. Convergence is about the distribution of incomes of people around the world flattening towards equality. Of course, how exactly convergence is studied and discussed does not always achieve that goat, writes London Sch Econ prof

Posted on Mon, 9 Feb 15:

Mauro: Greece advances a good idea - Indexing its debt repayments to econ growth, Peterson Inst (blog), 2 Feb 15:
An idea worth embracing is that debt repayments to euro zone creditor governments should be indexed to the performance of the Greek economy. If Greece grows fast, it should pay more; if Greece continues to stagnate, it should pay less. This makes good economic sense, writes Inst senior fellow

A big step forward for bolstering financial inclusion, IMF (blog), by Marston, Dabia-Norris & Unsai, 28 Jan 15:
Economists are paying increasing attention to the link between financial inclusion -- greater availability of and access to financial services -- and econ development. To examine how best to increase financial inclusion, we looked at 3 low-income nations (Kenya, Mozambique, and Uganda) and 3 emerging markets (Egypt, Malaysia, and Philippines), write IMF economists

The world's housing crisis doesn't need a revolutionary solution, Harvard Bus. Rev, 28 Dec 14 [via McKinsey]:
From Lagos to London, people are stuck in inadequate homes or pay so much of their incomes for housing that they forego other necessities. However, we believe that there is a plausible alternative, because there are clear solutions that -- under proper management -- can narrow the affordable housing gap substantially, write McK dir; senior fellow; and Dubai ofc principal

Posted on Fri, 6 Feb 15:

Greek and German ministers can't even "agree to disagree", Irish Times, 5 Feb 15:
When the German finance min suggested at a joint press conference that the 2 ministers had "agreed to disagree" on the best way forward, the Greek finance min said: "We didn't even agree to disagree, we agreed to enter deliberations as partners." The latter used a tense visit to Berlin Thu to request a 3-month bridging loan while he develops an alternative reform plan

Pinto: Taking stock of post-Soviet transition - Enduring lessons 25 years later, Brookings (blog), 23 Jan 15:
Enduring econ lessons have emerged from the transition in Central/ Eastern Europe, not simply because certain things happened in defiance of the prevailing conventional wisdom, but because the insights have stood the test of time. I shall take examples in Poland and Russia that I had the benefit of witnessing 1st hand, writes chief economist - emerging markets, GLG Partners LP

Luigi Zingales: Can wonks save finance from itself?, Bloomberg, 11 Jan 15:
Does finance benefit society? Most economists assume that finance is an unmitigated good -- the more opportunities people have to diversify and insure against risks, the better off they are. The 2008 financial crisis and the long string of fraud and market-rigging scandals that followed, though, have given the public a different view, writes Amer Fin Assn outgoing pres

Posted on Wed, 4 Feb 15:

Dadush: The global economy and China - The view from a mountain top, Guangming, 30 Jan 15 [via Carnegie]:
Few issues have caused more anguish than the possibility that the deceleration of the world's 2nd largest economy, could herald a hard landing. In my view, China's very high rates of saving and of investment in infrastructure, plant and equipment, R & D, and human capital should be seen more as a source of strength, than of weakness, writes Endowment's senior associate

Andres Velasco: The democratic merits of selective schools, Project Syndicate, 30 Jan 15:
A Latin American president has proposed a plan, recently approved by Congress, that will upend the school system, allowing 25 highly competitive public schools to select only 30% of their students through entrance exams, with the rest chosen by lottery, writes fmr presidential candidate and finance minister of Chile / Columbia U prof

Helping small business to be an engine of growth and employment, WBank (blog), by A Gonzalez, 15 Sep 14:
Small businesses employ a disproportionate share of the pop.: SMEs comprise 2/3 of formal private sector employment in emerging markets and create 95% of jobs in low income nations. They take many forms, from mobile food vendor to tech firms. But they account for a smaller share of productivity growth, writes Bank's trade/competitiveness practice senior dir

Posted on Mon, 2 Feb 15:

Moran: Foreign direct investment and developing-nation supply chains - 4 case studies, Vox EU, 30 Jan 15:
Joining int'l supply chains has helped some developing nations to industrialize while leaving others by the wayside. In fact, multinational manufacturing investment offers many opportunities for supply-chain dev't. But attracting multinational companies to invest in novel sectors in untried sites has proven to be quite difficult, writes Georgetown U prof

Which rich nation has the most development-friendly policies?, Ctr Global Dev't, 15 Jan 15:
How much do rich nations' policies help or hinder the world's poorest people? That's the question posed by the annual Commitment to Development Index, now in its 11th year. The index ranks 27 of the world's richest nations acc. to their performance in 7 policy areas - aid, trade, finance, migration, environment, technology and security

Boardroom/C-Suite: Nitin Nohria -- Small incremental bribes and corruption, Live Mint, 13 Jan 15:
One of my favorite case studies to teach describes an incident from the earliest days of Infosys, when it set up its 1st office and needed a telephone line. At that time, it was almost impossible to get a phone installed in India without paying a small bribe to the installer. The firm's head, who despised corruption, refused to pay, writes Harvard dean

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