News and Analysis: 2-16 Sep 2015 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

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Posted on Wed, 16 Sep 2015:

The coexistence of extreme deprivation and obesity is the real face of malnutrition, Int'l Food Policy Res Inst, 15 Sep 15:
One in three members of the global population is malnourished, and the problem exists in every country on the planet -- yet the strategies (or "high-impact interventions") available to resolve it are not being implemented due to lack of money, skills, or political pressure, says the new Global Nutrition Report

Inequality grows as economies develop, regardless of technology, Princeton Univ, 14 Sep 15:
As economies develop, the importance of agriculture tends to decline, and manufacturing and service industries begin to rise. Eventually, manufacturing also tends to decline, as services continue to expand. The expansion of the service sector is dominated by high-skill-intensive industries like education and health care, which naturally brings about the need for more high-skilled workers

Coffers: Richard Thaler -- Keynes's "beauty contest", Univ Chicago, 2 Sep 15:
In 1978, the Harvard financial economist Michael Jensen wrote, "I believe there is no other proposition in economics which has more solid empirical evidence supporting it than the efficient market hypothesis." If it is possible to "jinx" a scientific hypothesis, Prof Jensen may have done it, writes author of Misbehaving (2015) / U Chicago prof

Posted on Mon, 14 Sep 2015:

How worried should we be about China and other growth markets?, PwC (blog), by J Hawksworth, 7 Sep 15:
Events in China are of concern and need to be watched carefully. Some other growth markets also face serious challenges both due to events in China and other factors. However, we do not see a rerun of the Asian crisis of 1997-98 being likely. We should also not lose sight of the longer term potential of these markets, writes firm's UK chief economist

Does the industrialized world's economic statecraft need to be reinvented?, International Economy Mag, 10 Sep 15 [PDF]:

Ed.'s note: Due to a "censoring gremlin", pls copy and paste this URL to your browser: <www.international-economy.com/TIE_Su15_StatecraftSymp.pdf>

The IMF, World Bank, Bank for International Settlements, and the regional development bank seem to be suffering a crisis of credibility. Is this claimed loss of credibility exaggerated? If not, is the damage to the industrialized world's statecraft reparable? How can the statecraft be reinvented? A symposium of views

Local and national governments spur growth better in tandem, MIT News, 9 Sep 15:
"We take state capacity as a given," says economist Daron Acemoglu. "But when you look around the world, what's striking is the huge differences in the capacities of states. In Africa and part of Latin America and parts of Asia, the state is most notable by its absence, both at the local level and at the national level"

Posted on Fri, 11 Sep 2015:

Refugees heading west and north convulse Europe, Guardian, 10 Sep 15:
The political wrangling continued in European capitals over how to tackle the crisis. The European parliament backed the plan of European commission pres Juncker to divide 160,000 refugees currently in Hungary, Greece and Italy across the other member states. But Germany, which wants compulsory long-term EU quotas with no limits on numbers, warned the plan was a "drop in the ocean"

Boardroom/C-suite: US economy's failure to generate shared prosperity a concern for business, Harvard, 9 Sep 15:
Harvard biz alumni are optimistic about the ability of US firms to compete globally but are concerned that the resulting prosperity will not be shared broadly, acc. to survey results released. "Shared prosperity - not just the success of firms but also the success of working- and middle-class families - is a hallmark of any truly competitive economy," said Michael Porter, the study co-dir

Rethinking urban traffic congestion to put people first, Brookings (blog), 27 Aug 15:
"Fixing" traffic congestion by trying to make it easier to move cars around led to an overemphasis on road construction. But part of the phenomenon here is called induced traffic and the fact that, if you build it, they will come. Yes, more road building in order to try to move vehicles faster often makes traffic worse, writes Inst senior fellow

Posted on Wed, 9 Sep 2015:

Joseph Stiglitz: Fed up with the Fed, Project Syndicate, 7 Sep 15 [via Columbia Univ]:
This year, at the Jackson Hole symposium, the participants were greeted by a large group of mostly young people, incl many African- and Hispanic Americans. The group was not there so much to protest as to inform. They wanted the assembled policy makers to know that their decisions affect ordinary people, not just the financiers, writes Nobel Laureate '01

Edward Barbier: Ten years after - Hurricane Katrina’s lessons for the world, Nature, 19 Aug 15:
Louisiana's coastal-planning strategy represents a new way of thinking about the long-term management of coasts. The most vulnerable are poor, rural populations in developing countries that live less than 10 meters above sea level, in low-elevation coastal zones (LECZs). Almost all of the world's 60 million poor people living in rural LECZs reside in just 15 countries, writes Univ Wyoming prof

Morten Jerven: More or better development data? Yes, please..., Huff Post, 8 Dec 14:
When Rabbit asked Winnie the Pooh whether he wanted honey or condensed milk with his bread, Pooh answered, "Both." But then not to seem greedy, he added, "But don't bother about the bread, please." The debate on Sustainable Dev't Goals (SDGs), which are to replace the Millennium DGs, is reminiscent of a Winnie-the-Pooh-approach to measuring dev't, writes author of Africa: Why Economists Get It Wrong (2015)

Posted on Mon, 7 Sep 2015:

Are migrants settling in?, OECD (blog), 28 Aug 15:
Always a hot topic, the discussion on the integration of immigrants is shaped by plenty of misunderstandings and misrepresentations - a regular feature of the migration debate. Against such a backdrop, there's never been a greater need to get to the facts - to inform public debate and to guide sensible policy making (Discrimination and poor job prospects hit children of immigrants)

The export-driven model of economic growth is dead, Ctr Int'l Governance Innov (blog), by K Carmichael, 31 Aug 15:
Raghuram Rajan foresaw the financial crisis. Now he has a new prediction: the end of export-led growth, at least for the foreseeable future. India's central bank governor upset some people in New Delhi when he first suggested that PM Narendra Modi was wrong if he thought he could lead his country out of poverty by applying China's growth model

Urbanization and development - Q&A with Paul Romer, New York Univ (blog), 30 Aug 15:
Romer is NYU's Marron Inst Urban Mgmt dir: Q--Your academic contributions to the economy are recognized globally, but when did you start your interest in working on urbanization issues?; How are economics and planning and development of cities related to each other?; What do you think are the items that a "quality city" should have?

Posted on Fri, 4 Sep 2015:

G20 weighs Fed hike, Chinese turmoil, but unlikely to rock boat, Reuters, 4 Sep 15:
The US Federal Reserve is coming under pressure from emerging markets not to raise rates too soon as turmoil in China threatens global growth, but the G20 will not publicly call for any delay, delegates meeting in Turkey said on Fri. Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 leading economies were pressing for more on China's plans to tackle its slowdown, delegates at the meeting said

David Wessel: Four questions, and answers, about China's economy, WSJ, 1 Sep 15 [courtesy Brookings Inst]:
Here are a few of the big questions I brought back from a quick trip to Beijing: How much is the Chinese economy slowing?; Why have world markets reacted so much to China's devaluation and announced shift to rely more on markets to set the currency's value?; What happens to the currency next?; and What's happening to the pace of econ reform?, writes Inst's Hutchins Ctr Fiscal/Monetary Policy dir

Interdependence Day - Contending with a new global order, RAND, by D Irving, 21 Aug 15:
A team of experts took a sober look at the threats facing the US and developed a playbook of strategies to address them. Faced with threats as varied as warming oceans, computer hackers, and the Islamic State, the US should set as its 1st priority the preservation and expansion of a rules-based global order. It's a turbulent world. Consider this your guide (With upcoming 2016 election, global power shifts will face the next US pres)

Posted on Wed, 2 Sep 2015:

Editorial: Science in the community, Nature, 12 Aug 15:
The past decade has seen an explosion of interest in the use of randomized controlled experiments to test public policies, on issues from health and public safety to agriculture and education. Practitioners are generating hard data and pushing evidence into the gov't sphere. But they are ruffling the feathers of economists who have long focused on models and qualitative field data

Randall Kroszner: A shipping disaster's lessons for Dodd-Frank, FT, 30 July 15 [courtesy Univ Chicago]:
The fate of the SS Eastland -- which suddenly capsized a century ago and 841 passengers lost their lives, more than in the Titanic -- is one of the great unremembered tragedies, yet it carries important lessons for policy makers today, specifically about how a regulatory response to one disaster can unleash unintended consequences that could contribute to another, writes US Fed fmr governor

Can multinationals bring good jobs to host countries?, World Bank (blog), by Beata Jovorcik, 17 July 15:
Policy makers across the globe court foreign firms with an aim to create new jobs in their economies. But are these jobs good? Some jobs do more than others to help reduce poverty, but perhaps more importantly, they increase overall expertise within an economy. If we accept this premise, developing countries should focus not only on creating jobs, but on creating good jobs, writes Oxford prof

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