News and Analysis: 18-29 Jan 2016 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

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Posted on Fri, 29 Jan 2016:

Japan adopts negative-rate strategy to aid weakening economy, Bloomberg, 29 Jan 16:
Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda sprung another surprise on investors Fri, adopting a negative interest-rate strategy, which penalizes a portion of banks' reserves, in order to spur banks to lend in the face of a weakening economy (Japan follows Europe into negative interest rates, Market Watch)

The Brics are dead. Long live the Ticks, FT, 29 Jan 16 [via WEForum (blog)]:
The Brics concept was based on the belief that the quartet of Brazil, Russia, India and China would power an unstoppable wave of emerging markets-led econ growth. But the deepening recessions in Brazil and Russia have now dealt such a blow to faith in the Bric hypothesis that, late last year, even Goldman Sachs closed its Bric fund

Nancy Birdsall: 7 development policy wishes for 2016, Ctr Global Devt (blog), 12 Jan 16:
Some things I hope to see are extensions of promises made at the 3 big devt conferences of 2015: Addis (devt finance), New York (SDG adoption) and Paris (climate agreement). Others acknowledge that this is a special year in US politics. And still others are finding a comfortable home on the perennial list, writes Ctr founding pres

Posted on Wed, 27 Jan 2016:

Robert Gordon: The ascent and descent of US growth, Princeton Univ Press, Jan '16 [PDF]:
Our central thesis is that some inventions are more important than others, and that the revolutionary century after the Civil War was made possible by a unique clustering, in the late nineteenth century, of what we will call the 'Great Inventions', writes Amer Econ Assn distinguished fellow

Barry Eichengreen: China's money goes global - The how, the when, and the why, Milken Inst Review, 4th qtr '15 [PDF]:
The economic news from China has lately been dominated by the agonies of the stock market, which has been shuddering through high-speed twists and turns worthy of a roller coaster. However, it's best read in the context of the larger issue of China's evolving integration with global financial markets, writes U Calif-Berkeley prof

Institutional investors - The unfulfilled $100 trillion promise, World Bank, 18 June 15:
Developed and developing country policy makers alike have promoted institutional investors as a pillar of their financial systems. Responsible for managing retirement savings, institutional investors are expected to invest for the long term, follow market fundamentals, and provide liquidity to nations and firms overlooked by other actors in financial markets

Posted on Mon, 25 Jan 2016:

Desperate in Davos - Policy makers struggle for answers, Reuters, 25 Jan 16 [via Cyprus Mail]:
At a lunch entitled 'The End of Political Consensus', there was broad agreement that rising inequality, and the sense that elites were only looking out for themselves, was fueling more and more resentment of established politicians, and giving rise to a tide of populism - in the form of politicians like Donald Trump and France's Marine Le Pen

Kenneth Rogoff: World's economic slowdown is a hangover, not a coma, FT, 10 Oct 15 [PDF, courtesy Harvard]:
What is the right diagnosis of the ailing global economy? Some argue that we are living in a world of deficient demand, doomed to decades of secular stagnation. Maybe. But another possibility is that the global economy is in the later stages of a debt 'super cycle', writes 2011 winner of Deutsche Bank Prize in financial economics

Aging East Asians worried about future security, World Bank, 9 Dec 15:
East Asia is aging faster – and on a larger scale – than any other region in history. The tradition of relying on family support in old age is starting to erode in many countries. Many older people in the region depend on their own work - not family and state support - as their primary source of income (Brief on pension funds)

Posted on Fri, 22 Jan 2016:

What are the 10 biggest global challenges?, World Economic Forum, 21 Jan 16:
Whether it's turning promises on climate change into action, rebuilding trust in the financial system, or connecting the world to the Internet, the WEForum has singled out 10 key global challenges that, if they are to be addressed, require cooperation from the public and private sectors

Shang-Jin Wei: Which countries will benefit from China's slowdown?, Project Syndicate, 21 Jan 16 [via WEForum (blog)]:
While China's slowdown will have negative consequences for some countries, it is also creating opportunities for others. The fate of countries in the region depends on the structure of their economies - and, crucially, how they can adapt to their giant neighbor's ongoing econ transformation, writes Asian Devt Bank chief economist

Dear Internet: You are extraordinary, but not exceptional, Harvard, 2 Nov 15:
During the dot-com boom of the '90s, "I encountered two types," says Biz School's Shane Greenstein. "One was the techy engineer sort who said, 'I don't have to know anything about business. Business will take care of itself.' The other was the business type who said, 'We don’t have to have a revenue model yet. Don’t worry about it. It will appear.'"

Posted on Wed, 20 Jan 2016:

Weak pickup in global growth, with risks pivoting to emerging markets, IMF Survey Mag, 19 Jan 16:
The pickup in global growth is weak and uneven across economies, with risks now tilted toward the emerging markets, says the latest World Economic Outlook Update. Emerging markets and developing economies are now confronting a new reality of lower growth, with cyclical and structural forces undermining the traditional growth paradigm

Four Nobel economists on the biggest challenges for 2016, World Econ Forum, 17 Jan 16:
What are the biggest economic challenges facing the world in 2016? We put this question to 4 Nobel Laureates, all of whom will be attending this year's Davos meet -- Robert Shiller (Yale), Edmund Phelps (Columbia), Michael Spence (New York U), and Alvin Roth (Stanford). Here's what they had to say

Where are the Amazons and Ubers of public services?, World Econ Forum, by J Hyatt, 19 Jan 16:
Cycling to lectures one day I saw an older man sitting on a bench in a graveyard, surveying a vast tract of the river. There was something compelling about this scene so I wheeled my bike over to ask him, "What are you looking at?" He replied "The ghosts of great boats, the silence of empty shipyards and the end of life as I knew it," writes Schwab Found. social entrepreneur

Posted on Mon, 18 Jan 2016:

Olivier Blanchard: The price of oil, China, and stock market herding, Peterson Inst (blog), 17 Jan 16:
Maybe we should not believe the market commentaries. Maybe it was neither oil nor China. Maybe what we are seeing is a delayed reaction to the slowdown in the world economy, a slowdown that has now gone on for a few years. Maybe… I think, however, the explanation is largely elsewhere, writes fmr IMF chief economist

Gabriel Zucman: The hidden wealth of nations - Introduction, U Chicago Press, Sep '15 [PDF]:
Economists share some of the responsibility for the sense of mystery that still surrounds tax havens. Most of the progress in understanding tax havens can be credited not to economists, but to a certain number of pioneering nongovernmental orgs, journalists, political scientists, historians, jurists, and sociologists, writes UC-Berkeley asst prof

What is the theme of Davos 2016?, WEForum (blog), by F Mathuros, 16 Nov 15:
The theme of the annual meeting of the World Econ Forum on 20-23 Jan 16 is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution." The Fourth Industrial Revolution, unlike earlier Industrial Revolutions, is distinct in the speed, scale and force at which it transforms entire systems of production, distribution, and consumption

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