News and Analysis: 01-15 June 2016 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

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Posted on Wed, 15 June 2016:

Angus Deaton: Rethinking Robin Hood, Project Syndicate, 15 June 16 [via Korea Times]:
International development aid is based on the Robin Hood principle: take from the rich and give to the poor. We can think of this principle as an ethical rule that says those who have less have priority over those who have more, writes Nobel Laureate '15

Should the middle class fear the world's poor?, Boston Review, by M Steinbaum, 11 May 16:
Is there a "globalization tradeoff", namely, the thesis that economic development in poor countries has come at the cost of economic stagnation for the middle class in developed nations?, asks Washington Ctr Equitable Growth research economist

Bits & Bytes: Policy makers are from Mars, tech company engineers are from Venus, Lawfare, by A Zegart, 6 June 16:
Are relations between Washington and Silicon Valley getting worse? (I think the answer is yes.) The gap is more fundamental than "oh, those crazy kids have ping pong tables and volleyball courts at their headquarters," writes Hoover Inst senior fellow

Posted on Mon, 13 June 2016:

Indian central bank governor Rajan's fight against crony capitalism, Univ Chicago, by L Zingales, 11 June 16:
Until today, the reconfirmation of the central bank head was a topic that interested only a few insiders, Rajan, however, is the dream of the new India: young, competent, and one who reached the top of the central bank because of his skills, not his political alignment, writes U Chicago prof

David Wessel: Janet Yellen and the four big uncertainties, WSJ, 8 June 16 [courtesy Brookings]:
When Fed chair Yellen spoke last week, a lot of people listened for clues on when the Fed would next raise interest rates. Less attention was paid to a section of her speech on "four areas of uncertainty [that] seem particularly salient at present", writes Hutchins Fiscal & Monetary Policy Ctr dir

Taking the financial bite out of preventing a tropical disease, Stanford Univ, May '16:
The recipient of the Best Young French Economist Prize '15 by Le Monde and Le Cercle des Economistes, Pascaline Dupas, has spent a good chunk of the last decade conducting experiments to determine how best to price, target and distribute essential health products in developing nations

Posted on Fri, 10 June 2016:

Dani Rodrik: Innovation is not enough, Project Syndicate, 10 June 16 [via WEForum (blog)]:
We seem to be living in an accelerated age of revolutionary technological breakthroughs. Barely a day passes without the announcement of some major new development. Yet those who are supposed to know where it is all taking us can't make up their minds, write Harvard prof

Roger Martin: What economists get wrong about measuring productivity, Harvard Business Rev, 14 Sep 15:
I am struck that in trying to understand productivity, economists exclusively look at only one half of the productivity equation - literally, not figuratively. That impedes their ability to understand what is really going on with productivity in the modern economy, writes U Toronto fmr mgmt school dean

Robert Gordon: Off its pinnacle, Finance & Development, June '16:
My recently published book, "The Rise and Fall of American Growth", looks at why productivity grew rapidly before 1970 and much more slowly since then. Is the US entering a period of sustained low economic growth?, asks Northwestern prof

Posted on Wed, 08 June 2016:

The trillion dollar ocean, OECD (blog), by Jolly & Stevens, 27 Apr 16:
For some, the ocean is the new economic frontier. It is also increasingly seen as indispensable for addressing many of the challenges facing the planet, from world food security and climate change to the provision of energy, write Ocean economy group head; and Sci-tech policy senior advisor (8 June is World Oceans Day)

Averting the next crisis - Why some central banks are taking a revolutionary approach to training, Cambridge Univ, 28 Jan 16:
Central banks are staffed mainly by economists but need a wide range of knowledge too, acc. to Sir Paul Tucker, Systemic Risk Council chair and Bank of England fmr deputy gov. "A broadening in the education of people working in central banks is underway and that must be sustained"

Evaluating conditional cash transfer programs, Rand, 30 Mar 15:
Prior to the financial crisis, there was already an exponential increase in the number and scale of conditional cash transfers - social protection programs that provide cash to households as long as these comply with certain conditions, such as sending children to school or having frequent health checks

Posted on Mon, 06 June 2016:

Bangalore among world's top 5 innovation hubs, eGov Innovation/ S'pore, 05 June 16:
Acc. to a report by Capgemini, titled "Digital Dynasties: The rise of innovation empires worldwide" [PDF], India just trails Singapore, behind the top 3 locations for innovation centers - Silicon Valley, London and Paris (The Innovation Game: Why and how businesses are investing in innovation centers)

How do you build a new global financial institution?, Univ Pennsylvania, 02 June 16 [via WEForum (blog)]:
Imagine a $1 trillion "startup" set up to engage directly with financial markets, but run by a consortium of govt representatives. What should it look like? There are nine building blocks that we relied on to build the public sector of the future

Kristin Forbes: Improving the prediction of currency movements, MIT, 16 May 16:
Trying to predict currency movements is a mug's game. Any economist, myself included, will tell you it's virtually impossible to do. And yet, movements in exchange rates are incredibly important, writes Bank of England's monetary policy cmte external member

Posted on Fri, 03 June 2016:

Jeffrey Sachs: Financing health and education for all, Project Syndicate, 02 June 16 [via AzerNews/Azerbaijan]:
Children in poor nations die from causes - such as unsafe childbirth, vaccine-preventable diseases, infections such as malaria for which low-cost treatments exist, and nutritional deficiencies - that have been almost totally eliminated in the rich nations, writes UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network dir

Evolution not revolution: Rethinking policy at the IMF - Q&A with Maurice Obstfeld, IMF Survey Mag, 02 June 16:
Eight months into the job, the IMF chief economist reflects on the broad rethink of macro and financial policies following the global financial crisis: Q--Is the IMF now saying that austerity does not work and, indeed, that it exacerbates inequality?; How does this rethinking translate at the operational level?

Ostry, Loungani and Furceri: Neoliberalism - oversold?, Finance & Development, June '16:
The neoliberal agenda - a label used more by critics than by the architects of the policies - rests on two main planks. The first is increased competition, and the second is a smaller role for the state, write IMF research dept dep dir, div chief and economist

Posted on Wed, 01 June 2016:

Global economy stuck in low-growth trap: Policy makers need to act to keep promises, OECD, 01 June 16:
The global economy is stuck in a low-growth trap that will require more coordinated and comprehensive use of fiscal, monetary and structural policies to move to a higher growth path and ensure that promises are kept to both young and old, says the latest Global Economic Outlook

Michael Spence: Reigniting emerging-economy growth, Project Syndicate, 31 May 16 [via NY Council Foreign Rel.]:
It is no secret that emerging economies are facing serious challenges, which have weakened their development prospects. Whether they return to the path of convergence with the advanced economies will largely depend on how they approach an increasingly complex econ environment, writes Nobel Laureate '01

How Asians might lose their jobs (and find new ones), Time, by S Zahidi, 30 May 16:
The office of Kudo, with its millennial workforce, ping-pong table, open-plan seating and inspirational quotes on multicolor walls, could easily be located somewhere in Silicon Valley. Instead it is in Jakarta, Indonesia. This is what the 4th Industrial Revolution looks like in much of ASEAN

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