News and Analysis: 17-29 Feb 2016 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

Based in: Manila, Philippines

Posted on Mon, 29 Feb 2016:

China central bank resumes easing cycle to cushion reform pain, Reuters, 29 Feb 16:
China's central bank resumed its easing cycle on Mon, cutting the reserve requirement ratio, or the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves. The cut came just days after China used its role as host of the G20 to reassure trading partners that it did not intend to further devalue the yuan

Hanna and Olken: Strengthening safety nets for the poor, Jakarta Post, 12 Jan 16:
Anti poverty programs - 'safety nets' - provide poor households with essential help, from cash support to subsidized food and insurance. Yet these programs are the subject of passionate debates, write Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab's SEAsia co-dirs / Harvard & MIT profs

Bits and Bytes: How willing are people to allow access to their Internet browsing history if it helps natl security? Rand Eur, Feb '16:
We attempted to answer this question using a pan-European survey, which surveyed over 26,000 citizens across the EU. It was designed to quantify the public's views on privacy and security issues, writes Rand res group dir

Posted on Fri, 26 Feb 2016:

Schauble rejects coordinated stimulus at G20, with China under pressure, Deutsche Welle, 26 Feb 16:
Finance ministers and central bankers from the G20, who are meeting in Shanghai, are at odds over the medicine needed to boost the world's ailing economies. Germany rejects a stimulus, but others say it should be part of a mix that includes reforms

Ricardo Hausmann: The problem with evidence-based policies, Project Syndicate, 25 Feb 16 [via WEForum (blog)]:
Many orgs, from govt agencies to philanthropic institutions and aid agencies, now require that programs and policies be 'evidence-based'. It makes sense to demand that policies be based on evidence and that such evidence be as good as possible, writes Harvard Ctr Intl Devt dir

9 rock star economists whose ideas are changing the world under the radar, Business Insider, 25 Aug 15:
Nobel economists can be found burning up social media, the newspapers, and the conference circuit. But not everyone with influential ideas on economics and finance is as well-known. Here are some academics that are changing the world behind-the-scenes

Posted on Wed, 24 Feb 2016:

Quality of living rankings of cities in the world, Mercer, 23 Feb 16:
Vienna continues its reign in the top spot for overall quality of living, followed by Zurich (2), Auckland (3), and Munich (4). Vancouver (5) is NAmerica's highest ranking city, and Singapore is the highest ranking Asian city (26) (Highlights: Top 10 vs bottom 10)

Michael Clemens: The World Bank is turning 70. Do we still need it?, Ctr Global Devt (blog), 1 Feb 16:
The WB opened in 1946 to finance a global economy just emerging from colonization and warfare and just embarking on the Cold War. Today the global devt landscape is radically different, and capital circles the globe at volumes unthinkable back then. Why keep the WB now?, asks Ctr senior fellow

Luigi Zingales: Four years ago we dodged the Trump bullet. What about now?, Univ Chicago (blog), 17 June 15:
Four years ago we dodged the bullet, this time around we are not that lucky. Trump is now running for pres. Crony capitalism is alive and well, writes U Chicago prof (A crusader against 'crony capitalism', Independent | An economic agenda for Republicans, City Journal)

Posted on Mon, 22 Feb 2016:

Stiglitz and Rashid: Closing the developing countries' capital drain, Project Syndicate, 20 Feb 16 [via Daily Star/Lebanon]:
The real worry for developing nations is not just falling commodity prices, but also massive capital outflows. This is not the 1st time that these economies have faced the challenges of managing pro-cyclical hot capital, but the magnitudes this time are overwhelming, write Nobel economist (2001); and UN Dept Econ Soc Aff global econ monitor chief

James Boughton: The case for Christine Lagarde, Ctr Intl Governance Innov (blog), 20 Feb 16:
On 19 Feb, the IMF Exec Board elected Lagarde to serve a 2nd 5-year term as its head. Before she arrived in 2011, 3 consecutive IMF heads failed to complete a single term in office, leaving the IMF in a weakened and embarrassed state. The transition to a non-European director is imperative, but it can wait another 5 years, writes fmr historian of the IMF

Coffers: Ben Bernanke: -- The relationship between stocks and oil prices, Brookings Inst (blog), 19 Feb 16:
Stock prices have been falling recently, and these moves have generally followed the course of oil prices. On the surface, the tendency for stocks to fall along with oil prices is surprising. The usual presumption is that a decline in oil prices is good news for the economy, at least for net oil importers like the US and China, writes fmr Fed chair

Posted on Fri, 19 Feb 2016:

Nancy Birdsall: Middle-class heroes - The best guarantee of good governance, Foreign Affairs, Mar/Apr '16 [via Ctr Gobal Devt]:
The 2 econ developments that have garnered the most attention in recent years are the concentration of massive wealth in the richest 1% of the world's pop. and the tremendous, growth-driven decline in extreme poverty in the developing world. But just as important has been the emergence of large middle classes in developing nations, writes Ctr founding pres

Shanta Devarajan: Three reasons why industrial policy fails, Brookings Inst (blog), 14 Jan 16:
Every govt, throughout history, has been practising some form of industrial policy -- public policies aimed at stimulating industrial growth to transform the economy from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity manufacturing and services, writes World Bank Mideast/NAfrica chief economist (Industrial policies for devt - It's more than you think, OECD)

An open letter to Senator Sanders and Professor Gerald Friedman, from 4 fmr Council Econ Advisers chairs, 17 Feb 16:
We are fmr CEA chairs for Pres Obama and Bill Clinton. For many years, we have worked to make the Democratic Party the party of evidence-based econ policy. We are concerned to see the Sanders campaign citing extreme claims by Gerald Friedman (Friedman: What would Sanders do? Estimating the econ impact of Sanders programs, with exec sum [PDF])

Posted on Wed, 17 Feb 2016:

Larry Summers: It's time to go after Big Money, Harvard Univ (blog), 16 Feb 16:
A new research paper makes a compelling case for stopping the issuance of high denomination notes like the 500 euro note and 100 dollar bill or even withdrawing them from circulation. The fact that in certain circles the €500 is known as the "Bin Laden" confirms the arguments against it, writes Pres Obama's fmr Natl Econ Council dir

Stiglitz and Rashid: What's holding back the world economy?, Project Syndicate, 8 Feb 16 [PDF, via Columbia Univ]:
While ultra-low interest rates yielded few benefits for developed nations, they imposed significant costs on developing economies. An unintended, but not unexpected, consequence of monetary easing has been sharp increases in cross-border capital flows, causing a problem for many emerging markets, writes Nobel economist (2001); and UN global econ monitoring chief

The logic of effective altruism - An exchange bet. Rwanda's health minister and economist Angus Deaton, Boston Review, 15 July 15:
I spend a lot of time explaining and promoting Rwanda's record on public health to audiences around the world. For Angus Deaton, these gains only served to entrench dictatorship and repression. How? By threatening to let our children die unless altruistic and gullible Westerners pay our govt to keep them alive, writes Rwanda's health min

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