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Competition and Development  new

This website demonstrates the importance of true and fair competition to sustainable development. The site provides an overview of competition law and policy in developing countries, results of IDRC-funded research, and the important lessons that have been learned.

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-119682-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

(Added: Mon May 12 2008   Hits: 1)

The unresolved land reform debate: Beyond state-led or market-led models

This paper, published by the UNDP in November 2006 looks at the issue of land reform in developing countries. It notes that sharp inequalities in the distribution of land ownership remain a major hurdle to poverty reduction in many countries. The report notes that, historically, neither state nor market led approaches have had a great track record when it comes to overcoming land inequalities. The report then assesses some new land reform strategies.

http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0001674/index.php

(Added: Mon Jan 08 2007   Modified: Fri Jan 12 2007   Hits: 120)

'Global Governance' or the World Social Forum: Divergent analysis, strategy and tactics

This paper considers three different conceptualizations - three politico-ideological perspectives within civil society - on global-scale economics and geopolitics. The standpoints can be termed 'global justice movements', 'Third World nationalism' and the 'Post-Washington Consensus' (Patrick Bond, 2006).

http://www.istr.org/conferences/bangkok/WPVolume/Bond.Patrick.pdf

(Added: Fri Jan 11 2008   Hits: 83)

African Economic Outlook 2005/2006

While poverty is entrenched in Africa, this report finds that all of the continent's economic indicators,a lthough hampered by a lack of tranportation, are pointing in the right direction. This is partly because of the rising value of its oil and raw materials, and also because of a rise in development aid, primarily in the form of debt cancellation. And although conflict remains a huge problem, this report argues it is decreasing, and that democracy is advancing. (OECD, May 2006)

http://www.oecd.org/document/19/0,2340,en_2649_15162846_36563539_1_1_1_1,00.html

(Added: Tue Jun 13 2006   Hits: 81)

Aid for Trade [pdf]

In this paper Joseph E. Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton argue that trade may be necessary for sustained industrial development, but it is not sufficient. In the right circumstances, trade liberalisation creates opportunities for development, but other factors determine the extent to which those opportunities are realised. They argue that, to benefit from liberalisation developing countries will need to make public investments in infrastructure and institutions as well as private investment in productive capacity - a point realised by the aid for trade agenda. (Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University, 2006)

http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/ipd/pub/Aid_For_Trade_4_3_06.pdf

(Added: Tue May 16 2006   Modified: Mon Jun 26 2006   Hits: 152)

Analysing and Achieving Pro-poor Growth [PDF]

This report by the UNDP's International Poverty Centre examines the concept and reality of pro-poor growth. It examines the relationship between growth and poverty reduction. It looks at contributing factors to pro-poor growth (growth that is better at reducing poverty). And it provides a variety of case studies from around the world.

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCPoverty_in_Focus010.pdf

(Added: Fri Mar 30 2007   Hits: 202)

Asian Financial Crisis - 10 years on

In July 1997, massive capital flight from Thailand precipitated what is now known as the Asian financial crisis. Focus on the Global South was in the thick of the crisis, looking at the impacts first hand from our base in Thailand and analysing the political and economic fallout from every level and angle. Ten years on, unfinished condominiums and abandoned expressways sprouting rusty foliage from pillars of reinforced concrete scar Bangkok's skyline, constant reminders of the crash. But these days, alongside the ruins of 1997, taller, bigger and ritzier apartment buildings are springing thanks to a new property boom which, like the earlier one, will most probably end in a crash. On the face of it, Thailand does not appear to have learned much in the past ten years. Or has it? In this issue of Focus on Trade, Chanida Chanyapate and Alec Bamford look at attempts to inject Buddhist principles into economic thinking, replacing the "smirk of capitalism" with the "serene smile of sufficiency economy". Also in this issue, Walden Bello looks at how the key players in the crisis -- the financial markets, the national governments and the international financial institutions -- have fared in the past ten years while CP Chandrasekhar analyses new trends in the global financial system. His conclusions are grim and worrying. (Focus on the Global South, 27 July 2007).

http://www.focusweb.org/asian-financial-crisis-10-years-on-2.html?Itemid=1

(Added: Mon Jul 30 2007   Hits: 166)

Bolivia CDPF - Bolivia's Development Strategy

Since 1985, the consistent backdrop to this strategy has been supplied by the interrelated imperatives of macro-economic and fiscal stabilization, trade and market liberalization and the reforms necessary to move from a public-led to private-led growth models. Based on the long-term failure of previous protectionist development strategies, Bolivian governments since 1985 have pursued a development model that seeks poverty reduction principally through higher levels of privately-led economic growth accompanied by more effective social service delivery and better redistribution of fiscal resources by the state. With respect to the latter, different governments have implemented a number of innovative approaches, such as pension reform, decentralization and popular participation in development processes.

http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida.nsf/prnEn/NIC-22312131-MYH

(Added: Fri Oct 17 2003   Modified: Fri Aug 25 2006   Hits: 142)

Building Institutions for Markets: World Development Report 2002

From the World Bank. This report is available in PDF Format (to read you will need the Free Adobe Reader).

http://www.worldbank.org/wdr/2001/fulltext/fulltext2002.htm

(Added: Mon Mar 18 2002   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 239)

Cambodia and the International Community

This timely volume provides throughtful and balanced perspectives on many of the key issues now facing Cambodia, including achieving peace and reconciliation, sustainable economic growth and development, the prospects for democracy, and the appropriate role of the international community.

http://www.asiasociety.org/publications/cambodia/

(Added: Fri Mar 26 1999   Modified: Wed Jan 17 2007   Hits: 450)

Cash-based responses in emergencies

This paper is the final product of a three-year research project looking into when the option of giving people money instead of, or as well as, in-kind assistance is feasible and appropriate. A strong body of evidence is starting to emerge to indicate that providing people with cash or vouchers works. It is possible to target and distribute cash safely, and people spend money sensibly on basic essentials and on rebuilding livelihoods. What is more, cash transfers can provide a stimulus to local economies, and in some contexts can be more cost-effective than commodity-based alternatives (Paul Harvey, Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute, Feb 2007).

http://www.odi.org.uk/hpg/papers/hpgreport24.pdf

(Added: Thu May 31 2007   Hits: 162)

China's New Economic Model

This short article by Joseph Stiglitz outlines what China has done right in fostering its economic growth 'miracle'. It also examines what challenges it will need to make to ensure further development.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stiglitz86

(Added: Mon Apr 30 2007   Hits: 79)

COMPETITION AND DEVELOPMENT The Power of Competitive Markets

This book demonstrates the importance of true and fair competition to sustainable development and an effective marketplace, touching on issues of globalization, consumer welfare, cartels and monopolies, and trade liberalization. It provides an introduction to competition, and competition law and policy in developing countries. It focuses on the practical problems faced in developing countries and the steps that have been and can be taken to overcome those problems (Susan Joekes and Phil Evans, IDRC, 2008).

http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/405-5/

(Added: Fri May 02 2008   Hits: 19)

Dani Rodrik's Blog

Harvard economist, and prominent writer on development economics and globalisation, Dani Rodrik has a blog. On this site you can read his thoughts - which often run against conventional wisdom - on issues such as trade theory and development.

http://rodrik.typepad.com/

(Added: Mon Apr 30 2007   Hits: 285)

Development as Freedom - Contributions and Shortcomings - Irene van Staveren and Des Gasper (pdf)

To what extent can Amartya Sen's ideas on freedom and especially his conceptualisation of development as freedom enrich feminist economics? The notion of positive freedom that Sen employs has many attractions and provides important opportunities to analyse gender inequalities. Sen's increasing emphasis on freedom as the dominant overall value to evaluate individual well being and societal development also contains risks, not least for feminist analysis. We characterise the risks as 'under-elaboration' and 'overextension' of the concept of freedom. Drawing on Sen's earlier work and various feminist theorists, we suggest instead a more emphatically pluralist characterisation of capability,well being and value. We illustrate this with reference to women's economic role as caregivers.

http://adlib.iss.nl/adlib/uploads/wp/wp365.pdf

(Added: Wed May 14 2003   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 287)

Does Aid Work? [PDF - 154KB]

The recent G8 summit in Scotland has focussed attention on the commitment of the industrialised world to promoting economic/social development in Africa and other parts of the developing world. But amongst some economists and organizations like the IMF there is a great deal of scepticism about the effectiveness of foreign aid. Such scepticism has, in the past, been bolstered by econometric studies which have purported to show that foreign aid has little effect in achieving positive development outcomes. In this, his inaugural professional lecture, University of Otago academic David Fielding takes aim at the claims of the aid sceptics. In particular, he reports on the results of research which shows that, when aid effectiveness studies concentrate on areas where aid might reasonably be expected to have visible impact (such as poverty) such studies show that aid DOES have a positive impact on development.

http://www.business.otago.ac.nz/econ/Personal/df_files/fielding_ipl_05.pdf

(Added: Mon Feb 13 2006   Hits: 329)

Does Debt Relief Increase Fiscal Space in Zambia?

This Country Study examines fiscal policy in Zambia, and how expenditure and taxation could be used to accelerate growth and reduce poverty. Since 1990, fiscal policy has been closely linked to debt servicing and constrained by external loan conditionalities. This inversion of social priorities has had a debilitating effect on growth, poverty reduction and combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It finds that due to associated policy conditionalities and other factors, HIPC debt relief will result in less fiscal space, rather than more. The Zambian government has little leeway to choose its own fiscal policies, despite donor rhetoric about 'national ownership' of poverty-reduction policies. (UNDP, September 2006)

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCCountryStudy005.pdf

(Added: Tue Oct 03 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 179)

Doing it their own way

A new wave of Latin American leaders is changing the face of the region and its relations with the United States, multilateral institutions, international financial markets and foreign investors. Rafael Correa, Ecuador's newly elected president, recently sent the country's bond markets tumbling by announcing that he would seek to restructure Ecuador's foreign debt. President Néstor Kirchner of Argentina defaulted on debt payments to the IMF and had to had to reject the advice of the majority of the economics profession to lead Argentina out of its depression of 1998-2002. The economic policies of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez have resulted in high growth for the last three years. The governments of Argentina and Venezuela are transforming not only their own countries but also the region by finally breaking the IMF's control over credit. Venezuela has now provided an alternative source of credit, with no economic policy strings attached. (Mark Weisbrot, International Herald Tribune, 28 December 2006)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/28/opinion/edweis.php

(Added: Thu Jan 11 2007   Hits: 162)

Economic and Political Weekly

Published by the Sameeksha Trust since 1966, _Economic and Political Weekly_ is a social science journal that features research articles in economics, sociology, political science, and other disciplines; book reviews; commentary; columns by social scientists; statistical updates; and other content. The full text of the journal is available online dating back to January 1999, and article summaries are available for 1998.

http://www.epw.org.in/

(Added: Fri Jan 12 2001   Modified: Tue Jun 06 2006   Hits: 243)

Economic Development Quarterly

Economic Development Quarterly links the various economic development communities researching public and private finance, politics, planning, micro and macro-economics, engineering, and real estate.

http://www.sagepub.com/journal.aspx?pid=19

(Added: Mon May 29 2006   Modified: Tue Jun 06 2006   Hits: 219)

Economic Impact of Peacekeeping: Final Report

Through 400 interviews in the field and at headquarters, surveys of mission staff, and analysis of operational spending, staffing and macroeconomic data, this project has produced the first quantitative analysis of the economic impact of UN peace operations. The project founf that there is a need for greater consciousness within missions of the potential economic impact of every policy decision and of the relationship between economic recovery and other mission objectives. There is a need to maximize local procurement, consistent with quality and the guiding principle of value for money. Finally, in order to avoid serious distortions in local labor markets, UN operating principles designed a half-century ago to help the organization compete for staff in well-developed economies, need to be adapted to the war-torn economies where UN peacekeeping missions deploy today. (Michael Carnahan, William Durch, Scott Gilmore, United Nations, March 2006)

http://pbpu.unlb.org/pbpu/view/viewdocument.aspx?id=2&docid=746

(Added: Tue Jun 06 2006   Hits: 83)

Economic Report on Africa 2003: Accelerating the pace of development.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The Economic Report on Africa 2003 is the fourth in an annual series that reviews the continent's economic performance and near-term prospects. Targeted to African and global policymakers, the reports are meant to stimulate discussion and change. This year's report examines how Africa can achieve growth rates necessary to attain the Millennium Development Goals. It ranks African countries based on the performance of macroeconomic, poverty reduction, and institution building policies, using an ECA-designed Expanded Policy Stance Index.

http://www.uneca.org/era2003

(Added: Mon Aug 04 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 20 2005   Hits: 194)

Effects of Financial Globalization on Developing Countries: Some Empirical Evidence (PDF)

By Eswar Prasad, Kenneth Rogoff, Shang-Jin Wei and M. Ayhan Kose, International Monetary Fund. March 17, 2003. This paper provides a review of recent empirical evidence, including some new research, on the effects of financial globalization for developing economies. The paper focuses on three questions: (i) Does financial globalization promote economic growth in developing countries? (ii) What is its impact on macroeconomic volatility in these countries? (iii) What factors can help to harness the benefits of financial globalization?

http://www.imf.org/external/np/res/docs/2003/031703.pdf

(Added: Tue Apr 01 2003   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 211)

Effects of structural adjustment policies and foreign debt on the full enjoyment of all human rights

United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-ninth session, Agenda item 10. Resolution approving the Commission's decision to renew the mandate of the independent expert on the effects of structural adjustment policies and foreign debt on the full enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/50b01c101750f048c1256610002c88a4/d02cd75838c2af5dc12569bc0050098c?OpenDocument

(Added: Fri May 02 2003   Modified: Wed Jan 10 2007   Hits: 385)

EGYPT: Can't Wait a Generation to Eat

A World Bank official said this month it could take as long as "a generation" for the effects of Egypt's recent economic growth to be felt by the poorest segments of the population. But as "neo-liberal" economists urge patience, retail prices for essential foodstuffs continue to skyrocket, stretching many household salaries to breaking point (IPS, 26 March 2008).

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41744

(Added: Tue Apr 01 2008   Hits: 29)

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