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

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Posted on Fri, 29 July 2016:

Republicans, Democrats, and development policy, Ctr Global Devt (blog), by B Schwanke, 21 July 16:
What do the Democratic and Republican Party platforms tell us about the parties' respective visions for US devt policy? We note both causes for optimism and opportunities for improvement, writes Ctr policy outreach dir

Citizenship for sale, IMF (blog), 07 July 16:
A suitcase filled with multiple passports? That's not just the stuff of spy movies anymore. Increasingly, a growing number of high-net worth individuals are looking to have a passport portfolio. This has led to a proliferation of so-called citizenship-by-investment programs

Changing how economics is taught, BBC News, 03 Mar 16:
There was an immediate response to my recent remarks on the "Rethinking Economics" movement that has grown to prominence in many univ econ depts in the past few years. Here's Wendy Carlin, Univ College London prof, who's leading a project called Core, or Curriculum Open-access Resources in Econ

Posted on Wed, 27 July 2016:

Barry Eichengreen: What's the problem with protectionism?, Project Syndicate, 15 July 16 [via Guardian]:
One thing is now certain about the upcoming US pres'l election: the next pres will not be a committed free trader. Hillary Clinton is at best a lukewarm supporter of freer trade, and Trump is downright hostile to trade deals that would throw open US markets, writes U Calif-Berkeley prof

Making politics work for development, World Bank (blog), by S Khemani, 25 July 16:
Too often, govt leaders fail to adopt and implement policies that they know are necessary for sustained economic development. Political constraints can prevent leaders from following sound technical advice, even when leaders have the best of intentions, writes WB senior economist

Bits & Bytes: The future of the Internet is at risk if we don't act now, Comm on Internet Governance, 21 June 16 [via CIGI]:
The need to ensure the future of an inclusive, open, secure and trustworthy Internet is the central message of "One Internet", the final report of the Global Commission (chaired by fmr Swedish PM Carl Bildt) released at the OECD meeting on the digital economy in Mexico ("One Internet" report - FAQs)

Posted on Mon, 25 July 2016:

G-20 - Five ways to spark growth (IMF Staff Note for the G-20), IMF (blog), 21 July 16:
Once again, we face the prospect of weak and fragile global growth. This Note outlines the urgent need for a broad-based policy effort to contain risk and reinvigorate growth both in the short and longer term. It explores five main areas to rev up growth

Judith Rodin: What can 100 cities teach us about the future of this vulnerable world?, Guardian, 06 June 16:
As we move deeper into the 21st century, the stresses and shocks come faster and faster. The cities are bearing the brunt because that's where the largest segments of the world's population live, writes Rockefeller Foundation pres ('100 Resilient Cities' announces hundredth member, but "work is only just beginning")

Robert Frank: Just deserts, Hedgehog Review, 3rd qtr '16:
"Luck," EB White once impishly observed, "is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men." And the economist Paul Samuelson once said, "Never underestimate the willingness of a man to believe flattering things about himself," writes author of Success and Luck: Good fortune and the myth of meritocracy (2016)

Posted on Fri, 22 July 2016:

Robert Shiller: How hesitation is stifling the global economy, Project Syndicate, 21 July 16 [via Guardian]:
Econ slowdowns can often be characterized as periods of hesitation. Consumers hesitate to buy a new house or car, while managers hesitate to expand their workforce, buy a new office building, or build a new factory, writes Nobel Laureate '13 / co-creator of the Case-Shiller index of US house prices

Hubbard and Kane: America's slowing economic dynamo, Investor's Business Daily, 8 July 16 [courtesy Columbia U]:
Why is US econ growth sluggish? The latest official report of econ growth is not just another sour note in the 7th year of recovery, it's also the 5th stanza in a half-century deceleration, writes Pres GW Bush's Council Econ Advisers chair; and Hoover Inst res fellow

First report card maps scope of progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN News, 19 July 16:
This inaugural report presents an overview of the 17 SDGs using data currently available to highlight some critical gaps and challenges. While the Goals were launched only 7 months ago -- too short a period for a proper assessment of progress -- the report looks at trends over the last years

Posted on Wed, 20 July 2016:

Dani Rodrik: Turkey's baffling coup attempt, Project Syndicate, 18 July 16 [via WEForum (blog)]:
Military coups follow a predictable pattern in Turkey. Political groups deemed by soldiers to be antagonistic to Atatürk's vision of a secular Turkey gain increasing power. Tensions rise, then the military steps in, exercising what it claims is its constitutional duty to restore secular principles. This time, it was very different, writes Harvard prof

Paul Romer: My new position as chief economist at the World Bank, New York Univ (blog), 18 July 16:
I'm pleased to report that I have agreed to accept Pres Jim Yong Kim's offer. This may surprise you. It surprises me. I have often said to myself that the intersection of the set of jobs in Wash DC that I would find intellectually exciting and the set of jobs that I would accept is empty, writes NYU prof

Coffers: Are markets efficient?, Univ Chicago, 30 June 16:
What is the efficient-markets hypothesis and how good a working model is it? Discussing this topic are Nobel Laureate '13 Eugene Fama and leading behavioral economist Richard Thaler

Posted on Mon, 18 July 2016:

8 years after hope and change, voters are angry, anxious, AP, 16 July 16:
A stunning 79 percent of Americans now believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. Voters are strikingly unhappy with the candidates who will be on the ballot this Nov, with only 22 percent saying they would be proud to see Trump win and 27 percent to see Clinton

Joseph Stiglitz: Donald Trump's biggest vulnerability, Vanity Fair, 01 June 16:
Lurking beneath all the troubling questions about Trump -- would he really try to renegotiate the national debt? Would he really build a wall between Mexico and the US? Would he really try to prevent Muslims from entering the US? -- lies an even more fundamental question, writes Nobel Prize Laureate '01

Paul Romer to be World Bank's chief economist, WSJ, 17 July 16 [via Market Watch]:
New York U economist Paul Romer is set to be named WB chief economist next week, a rock star in economist circles who is known as a proponent of the "endogenous growth theory," which holds that investment in human capital, ideas and technology are the major drivers of econ growth (Romer: Economic growth)

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