News and Analysis: 17-31 Aug 2016 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

Based in: Manila, Philippines

Posted on Wed, 31 Aug 2016:

Barry Eichengreen: Rethinking controls on capital flows, Milken Inst Review, 3rd qtr '16:
Economists are taught to appreciate the virtues of free markets. But they are also trained to be alert to circumstances in which markets, left to their own devices, produce less-than-optimal results. Sorting out the two cases can be tricky, though, writes UC-Berkeley & U Cambridge prof

The Cuban economy - Open for business, Univ Calif-San Diego, 18 May 16:
Ahead of its release on 30 Aug, we connected with Richard Feinberg for a look-see into the 220-page manuscript of his new book on the past, present and future of the Cuban economy

Robert Stavins: Misleading talk about decoupling CO2 emissions and economic growth, Huff Post, 04 May 16:
Decoupling is the wrong metaphor to describe what has been happening. When a caboose is decoupled from a train, it stops moving altogether. But the link between CO2 emissions and econ growth has certainly not been eliminated, writes Harvard environ econ prog dir

Posted on Mon, 29 Aug 2016:

William Easterly: Making sense of meltdowns, WSJ, 06 July 16 [PDF, courtesy New York Univ]:
How do you write a compelling book about which nations will rise and fall over the next five years? Morgan Stanley's Ruchir Sharma understands more than most that the worst predictions are made by those who fail to appreciate randomness, writes NYU prof

The economic gears of a disrupted world, Morgan Stanley, 06 June 16:
How does one country stand out from another if they all have low growth? Emerging markets head, Ruchir Sharma, offers a system of 10 rules for distinguishing the good economies from the average and the ugly

Risk, uncertainty separately cloud global growth forecasting, Dallas Fed Economic Letter, by Chudik & assoc, July '16 [PDF]
The reliability of global forecasts is an increasingly pressing concern for households, firms and policy makers. How households and firms assess global prospects has major implications for econ activity and ultimately for policy making, write senior res advisors

Posted on Fri, 26 Aug 2016:

Fed's Yellen says case for interest rate hike has strengthened, Reuters, 26 Aug 16:
The case for raising US interest rates has strengthened in recent months because of improvements in the labor market and expectations for moderate growth, the Fed chair said on Fri in Jackson Hole (Full text of Yellen's talk)

US nominates Jim Yong Kim as World Bank president for 2nd term, Press Trust of India, 25 Aug 16 [via Hindustan Times]:
The US said on Thu that Kim has "ably led" the global development lender's response to major crises and helped it focus on innovative ways to challenge issues like poverty and climate change. The US is the WB's largest shareholder

World Bank staff highlight "crisis of leadership", Public Finance International, 11 Aug 16:
A "leadership crisis" has been highlighted in an open letter to the WB's executive directors from an influential association of staff members (Pritchett: Excuse me, World Bank, this time is last time's next time)

Posted on Wed, 24 Aug 2016:

Jackson Hole - What issues will central bankers be discussing?, FT, by S Fleming, 23 Aug 15 [via WEForum (blog)]:
Policy makers will meet at the mountain resort of Jackson Hole amid concerns that central banks' recession-fighting firepower is thin, and that an overhaul may be needed for how authorities steer their way through the economic cycle

Barry Eichengreen: Airing the IMF's dirty European laundry, Project Syndicate, 12 Aug 16 [via Guardian]:
Following the IMF's controversial actions in the '98 Asian financial crisis, when it conditioned liquidity assistance to distressed nations on govt belt-tightening, it established an independent evaluation office to undertake arm's-length assessments of its programs, writes UC-Berkeley & U Cambridge prof

Can growth benefit all?, World Bank (blog), by F Jaramillo, 10 May 16:
As an economist, I always thought that sustained growth over many years was the key to reduce poverty. Now I know, that while growth is important, it has to be a particular type of growth, writes WB macro/fiscal mgmt senior dir

Posted on Mon, 22 Aug 2016:

How to defeat terrorism - Intelligence, integration, and development, Brookings (blog), by N Loayza, 25 July 16:
My partner was caught at the Istanbul airport during the latest terrorist attack. A few years ago, a colleague and I edited two books on what we perceived to be the main security threats of our time, writes World Bank lead economist based in Malaysia

Glenn Hubbard: Turn the populism of 2016 into an honest revolution in Wash DC, Quartz, 01 July 16 [courtesy Columbia U]:
Political pundits point to measures of econ anxiety -- stagnating incomes for many, rising out-of-pocket health care costs, student debt burdens, and so on -- to explain the populist, policy-light campaign, writes Pres GW Bush's Council Econ Advisers chair

Fixing inequality of opportunity, Rand (blog), by C Price, 06 July 16:
Most people would acknowledge that income and wealth inequality can be directly propagated across generations through inheritance, or the lack thereof. And the policies used to address this direct channel, such as inheritance taxes, are generally well understood, writes Rand mathematician

Posted on Fri, 19 Aug 2016:

One Humanity: How a five-year-old became a symbol of Aleppo's suffering, NYT, 19 Aug 16 [via Today/S'pore]:
Some images strike a particular nerve, for reasons both obvious and unknowable, jarring even a public numbed to disaster. Omran's is one. As he is carried from a damaged building in the dark, Omran could be Everychild (UN: 19 Aug - World Humanitarian Day)

Nobel Prize-winning economist Stiglitz has a plan to save Europe, Vanity Fair, 08 Aug 16:
The world has been bombarded with depressing news from Europe. Greece is in a depression, while large parts of Europe face a lost decade. What has happened?, asks author of The Euro: How a common currency threatens the future of Europe (2016)

Assessing crop damage after extreme weather, MIT News, 10 Aug 16:
A new method to track the impact of typhoons and other natural disasters could enable more precise, timely delivery of food aid. The method provides a faster, more accurate, and easier-to-obtain estimate of the impact of typhoons on food crops

Posted on Wed, 17 Aug 2016:

Gregory Mankiw: Trade is good, but voters aren't buying it, NYT, 31 July 16 [PDF, courtesy Harvard]:
Why are so many people, on both sides of the Atlantic, ready to embrace a move away from international economic engagement when expert opinion overwhelmingly calls for a very different approach?, asks Pres GW Bush's Council Econ Advisers chair

3 Questions - Economist David Autor on global trade and political polarization, MIT News, 26 Apr 16;
Your new study establishes a strong relationship between job losses in the US due to global trade, and political changes in Congress - but the phenomenon at work is not what many people might guess. What did you find?'

Abhijit Banerjee: The best way to welfare, Indian Express, 18 June 16 [PDF, courtesy MIT]:
A universal basic income is an old idea from at least the '70s when, interestingly, it drew support both from right-wing libertarians like Friedman and center-left Keynesians like Galbraith, writes MIT ALJ Poverty Action Lab co-founder

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