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International Development Association

The International Development Association (IDA) is the part of the World Bank that helps the earth's poorest countries reduce poverty by providing interest-free loans and some grants for programs aimed at boosting economic growth and improving living conditions. IDA funds help these countries deal with the complex challenges they face in striving to meet the Millennium Development Goals. They must, for example, respond to the competitive pressures as well as the opportunities of globalization; arrest the spread of HIV/AIDS; and prevent conflict or deal with its aftermath.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/IDA/0,,menuPK:83991~pagePK:118644~piPK:51236156~theSitePK:73154,00.html

(Added: Thu Dec 08 2005   Hits: 111)

International tax cooperation and capital mobility

Author(s): FitzGerald. V.** The international mobility of capital and the geographical dispersion of firms have clear advantages for the growth and modernisation of the region. They also create fundamental challenges for national tax authorities. Modern principles of capital taxation for the open developing economy indicate the need to find the correct balance between the encouragement of private investment and the finance of social infrastructure, both of which are necessary for sustainable growth. This balance can be sub-optimal where countries compete for inward investment by granting tax incentives or exercise conflicting principles in determining the tax base. The current practice of international taxation indicates that fiscal authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean could attain a more equitable share of capital tax revenue without depressing investment and growth. This might be achieved through more effective regional tax rules, double taxation treaties, information sharing and treatment of offshore financial centres along the lines already promoted for OECD members. (Abstract)

http://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/pdf/qehwp/qehwps79.pdf

(Added: Thu Nov 07 2002   Modified: Thu Feb 15 2007   Hits: 242)

IPC - Equitable Acess to Finacial Services: Is Microfinancing Sufficient?

This International Poverty Centre Onepager argues that 'Access to the financial sector has numerous benefits. Savers and investors are matched, transactions costs are lowered and liquidity is created. But less than half of the households in developing countries have access to financial services, compared to over 70 per cent in the developed world.'

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager59.pdf

(Added: Mon Jul 14 2008   Hits: 3)

Is a friend in need a friend indeed? Inclusion and exclusion in mutual insurance networks in Southern Ghana

Author(s): Goldstein, M.; de Janvry, A.; Sadoulet, E. Produced by: Development Studies Institute, LSE (DESTIN) (2002)** Mutual insurance has been shown, theoretically and empirically, to be incomplete and limited by asymmetric information and lack of enforcement mechanisms. While some research has shown that networks based on kinship, neighborhood and ethnicity may provide a locus of insurance and thus a way of overcoming these problems, these studies are not fine enough to predict the inclusion and exclusion of individuals. Using data from rural Ghana, we examine the role of social relations in obtaining assistance in the face of shocks. We examine this at both the intra-household and community levels.(Abstract)

http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/de/dedps32.pdf

(Added: Thu Nov 07 2002   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 138)

Is Pinochet Dead?

Analysis of the legacy of Pinochet in Chile and suggestions as to the country's future direction (Manuel Riesco, New Left Review, Sept/October 2007).

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/Riesco_Chile.pdf

(Added: Wed Nov 07 2007   Hits: 34)

It Works; It Doesn't; It Can, But that Depends... [PDF - 227KB]

This paper - written for the United Nations University Worldwide Institute for Development Economics Research - surveys 50 years of empirical research on the macroeconomic impact of aid, looking mainly at studies examining the link between aid and growth. It argues that studies dating until the late 1990s produced either contradictory or inconclusive results. Aid either worked, or it didn't, according to this research. The paper then highlights a major shift in the literature that coincided with the release of the World Bank's Assessing Aid: What Works, What Doesn't and Why. Practically all research published since that report agrees with its general finding that aid works, to the extent that in its absence growth would be lower. One controversy may therefore have been settled. Yet, we show, the report has set-off an intense debate over the context in which aid works. That debate centres on whether the effectiveness of these inflows depends on the policy regime of recipient countries. Some possible avenues through which the heat might be taken out of this debate are considered.

http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/rps/rps2005/rp2005-54.pdf

(Added: Mon Feb 13 2006   Hits: 103)

Key Economic Developments and Prospects in the Asia-Pacific Region 2006

The purpose of the Key Economic Developments and Prospects in the Asia-Pacific Region is to provide a mid-term review of the international and regional economic environment. The report provides a forward-looking analysis focusing on principal policy issues and challenges likely to confront Governments in the region over the near term. (UNESCAP, December 2005)

http://www.unescap.org/publications/detail.asp?id=1119

(Added: Thu Sep 07 2006   Hits: 60)

LDC III One Year Later

Media Corner, May 2002- LDC III, the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, the first UN conference to be hosted by the European Union, was held one year ago (14 - 20 May, 2001) at the European Parliament in Brussels. LDC III concluded with the adoption of the Brussels Declaration, in which 193 participating governments committed themselves to the eradication of poverty in the world's poorest countries and to the improvement of the quality of lives of the more than 600 million people living in them. Attended by more than 6,500 participants from governments, specialized agencies and civil society, LDC III also adopted an ambitious Programme of Action, that addresses development assistance, debt cancellation, and private investment in the 49 LDCs.

http://www.unido.org/doc/511806.htmls

(Added: Thu Sep 19 2002   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 122)

Local Economic Development and Entrepreneurship

Local Economic Development and Entrepreneurship -- Local partnership of stakeholders is critical for the sustainability of local business support infrastructure such as the the regional enterprise agencies. -- The role of every local partner should be based on its perceived strength and should be defined at the outset of cooperation. -- Adoption of local economic strategic and development plans is critical for the development of business at local level. -- Awareness of the indispensability of cooperation and a culture of partnership are much more significant for the cooperation of stakeholders than formal types of cooperation. -- Development of an entrepreneurial culture and a new style of management in municipalities is needed in order to achieve a synergetic effect of development of municipalities and small businesses.

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/6775localecondevt.pdf

(Added: Thu Jan 22 2004   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 132)

Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth Revisited (PDF)

By Jean-Philippe C. Stijns, University of California at Berkeley, (2001). Data on energy and mineral reserves suggest that natural resource abundance has not been a significant structural determinant of economic growth between 1970 and 1989. The story behind the effect of natural resources on economic growth is a complex one that typical growth regressions do not capture well. Preliminary evidence suggests that natural resources may affect economic growth through both "positive" and "negative channels." Potential reverse causality running from these "channels" to fuel and mineral reserves further complicates the analysis. I conjecture that, as economic historians suggest, the ability of a country to exploit its resource base depends critically on the nature of the learning process involved (abstract).

http://are.berkeley.edu/courses/envres_seminar/f2000/stijns.pdf

(Added: Wed Apr 23 2003   Modified: Mon Feb 12 2007   Hits: 210)

OECD warns rebalancing of US deficit may drive dollar down sharply

The OECD has warned that the eventual rebalancing of the US current account gap 'looks increasingly unavoidable' and will send shock waves across the globe, starting with a slump in the dollar's exchange rate. The OECD said in its world economic outlook that the depreciation faced by the dollar could be 'of the order of one-third to one-half.' (Forbes, 23 May 2006)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13167.htm

(Added: Thu May 25 2006   Hits: 126)

Oil and Development: 'The Global Record'

By Terry Lynn Karl and Ian Gary for Foreign Policy in Focus The gap between the promise of petroleum wealth and the perversity of its performance is enormous. Study after study demonstrates that, as a group, countries dependent on oil as their leading export have performed worse than other developing countries on a variety of economic indicators; they have performed worse than they should have given their revenue streams; and poverty within their borders has been exacerbated rather than alleviated over the past two decades. The scramble for African oil has raised expectations that petroleum will boost the standard of living of exporting countries in the Gulf of Guinea. As Ed Royce, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa of the U.S. House of Representatives says: "African energy is critical to African development. It provides a revenue stream...to break the cycle of poverty that plagues the continent." In West Africa the hopes of people watching new pipelines built through their communities or seeing the impressive installation of offshore platforms can be palpably felt. They believe that oil will bring jobs, food, schools, healthcare, agricultural support, and housing. "We were told by the company that we would have a new school, with books, and electricity and water," a Cameroon village chief reported. But these hopes are not likely to be realized if new African oil producers repeat the dismal performance of other petro-states.

http://www.fpif.org/papers/03petropol/development.html

(Added: Fri Jan 23 2004   Modified: Tue Dec 20 2005   Hits: 138)

Participation and Development: Perspectives from the Comprehensive Development Paradigm

This paper, by Columbia Economist Joseph Stiglitz, investigates the relationship between economic and social development. The paper contends that, contrary to the common argument there are not trade offs between democracy and economic growth and that, in the long run dialog and civil society are key ingredients to sustainable development.

http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/download/2002_Participation_Development.pdf

(Added: Fri May 11 2007   Hits: 114)

Pro-Growth Alternatives for Monetary and Financial Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa

The authors of the newest Brief, Robert Pollin, Gerald Epstein and James Heintz of the Political Economy Re search Institute, seek to provide viable alternatives to neoliberalism in three major areas: 1) inflation and monetary policy, 2) capital flows, speculation and the exchange rate, and 3) banking systems and access to credit (IPC, January 2008).

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCPolicyResearchBrief6.pdf

(Added: Thu Jan 31 2008   Hits: 18)

Pro-poor growth: what is it? [PDF]

There is a growing consensus among development practitioners and thinkers that growth alone is not enough to reduce poverty. Instead, discussion now centres on the idea of "pro-poor growth": something that is indicative of a major conceptual move away from the trickle down theories of a few decades ago. However, as important as the shift in development thinking is, there is still much to be done in defining what pro-poor growth is, how it is assessed and measured and, more importantly, how the concept can be translated into effective policy. This brief paper from the UNDP's International Poverty Centre discusses the concept of pro-poor growth.

http://www.undp.org/povertycentre/newsletters/OnePager1.pdf

(Added: Tue Feb 28 2006   Hits: 385)

Profiting from Poverty: The ADB, private sector and development in Asia (PDF 161 Kb)

Focus on the Global South, May 2001. A compilation of articles on the ADB, its policies and impacts.

http://www.focusweb.org/publications/Books/Profiting_from_poverty.htm

(Added: Fri Dec 19 2003   Modified: Thu Jun 16 2005   Hits: 217)

Proposed Malaysia-United States Free Trade agreement (MUFTA): Implications for Malaysian Economic and Social Development

This paper deals with the FTA that is being negotiated between Malaysia and the United States or MUFTA (Malaysia-US FTA). It begins with some general aspects of bilateral FTAs. It then briefly states the architecture of issues in the MUFTA and does a description and analysis of each issue or chapter (Third World Network, February 2007).

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/MUFTA.doc

(Added: Fri Dec 21 2007   Hits: 79)

Proutist Universal

PROUT is an acronym for PROgressive Utilization Theory, a socio-economic philosophy that synthesizes the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of human nature. The goal of PROUT is to provide guidance for the evolution of a truly progressive human society. PROUT is an alternative to the outmoded capitalist and communist socio-economic paradigms. Neither of these approaches had adequately met the physical, mental and spiritual needs of humanity. PROUT seeks a harmonious balance between economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability, between individual and collective interests. Combining the wisdom of spirituality, with a universal outlook and the struggle for self-reliance, PROUTists are creating a new civilization discourse and planting the seeds for a new way of living.

http://www.prout.org/

(Added: Wed May 22 2002   Modified: Wed Jun 21 2006   Hits: 177)

Putting the right price on nature: environmental economics

Growing populations and an increasing demand for greater material wealth are placing unprecedented pressure on the earth's natural systems. But assigning values to such systems is a difficult process - not least because they are generally thought of as free goods that everyone has a right to use. Environmental economics offers a number of tools to help policymakers ensure that the benefits we obtain from ecosystems are properly valued, enabling a framework to be built for sustainable use and conservation of the environment. (Anantha Duraiappah, SciDev Net, October 2006)

http://www.scidev.net/dossiers/index.cfm?fuseaction=policybrief&policy=132&dossier=11

(Added: Fri Mar 09 2007   Hits: 229)

Research Observer

The World Bank Research Observer (WBRO) is intended for anyone who has a professional interest in development. Articles are reviewed by an editorial board drawn from the World Bank and the international community of economists. World Bank Research Observer (WBRO) articles are written to be accessible to nonspecialist readers; contributors examine key issues in development economics, survey the literature and the latest World Bank research, and debate issues of development policy. Inconsistency with Bank policy is not grounds for rejection.

http://www.worldbank.org/research/journals/wbroedit.htm

(Added: Thu Jun 21 2001   Modified: Tue Jun 06 2006   Hits: 367)

Rethinking Growth Policies in the Developing World

This lecture transcript by Harvard Economist Dani Rodrik looks at economic development policies to the Washington Consensus.

http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~drodrik/Luca_d_Agliano_Lecture_Oct_2004.pdf

(Added: Fri May 11 2007   Hits: 75)

Root Causes: A historical approach to assessing the role of institutions in economic development [PDF - 99.8KB]

What are the 'deep determinants' of economic growth? Why - in the long run - do some countries grow faster than others? And what, if anything, can be done to increase countries' long run growth prospects? These questions are central to development economics, and amongst mainstream development economists there are two prevailing contemporary 'schools of thought' about the issue: geography and institutions This paper by Daron Acemoglu (of MIT) argues the case for the institutions school of thought. In doing this Acemoglu explains how different patterns of colonialism impacted on the institutions that countries developed and how the effects of this continue to be felt in the present day.

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/06/pdf/Acemoglu.pdf

(Added: Fri Jan 27 2006   Hits: 220)

Sahel: A Prisoner of Starvation? - A Case Study of the 2005 Food Crisis in Niger

This report reviews the 2005 food crisis in Niger and assesses the response of the Nigerien government and the international donor community. It explores the role markets play in alleviating or aggravating food needs of the population. It examines the outcome of international economic reforms and development policies implemented in Niger during the past 25 years, finding that they appear to be driven by ideology instead of by a comprehensive analysis of development issues in the country. Implementation of policies emanating from the international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, withdrew state intervention from social and economic sectors. The report recommends strategies that can help make hunger in Sahel a thing of the past. (Frederic Mousseau with Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute, October 2006)

http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/pdfs/sahel.pdf

(Added: Tue Oct 17 2006   Hits: 138)

Scaling up aid for trade: how to support poor countries to trade their way out of poverty [PDF] 150KB

While trade has been a key driver of growth in many parts of the world, but many developing countries face constraints that prevent them from participating in the global trading system. In fact, the African continent's share of world trade declined from 6 per cent in 1980 to less than 2 per cent in 2002.In this report, Oxfam calls for recipient-driven economic assistance to help strengthen the ability for poor countries to trade.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/trade/bn_aid_trade.htm

(Added: Mon Nov 21 2005   Hits: 67)

Sen's Sensibility

This article in American magazine the Nation discusses the 'capabilities approach' to measuring poverty as articulated by Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen. It illustrates what can seem like a complex concept simply, using the example of a family in a Chilean shantytown to explain just how the capabilities approach to poverty attempts to capture the complexities of people's lives. The article also contains biographical information on Sen as well as descriptions of some of his other contributions to development thought.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/19991206/north

(Added: Fri Feb 24 2006   Hits: 262)

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