|
Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
|
|
|
|
Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
|
|
Global Development: Views from the Center
Posts in: Economic GrowthYou’ve Heard of Herman Cain’s 9-9-9. Here’s Nigeria’s 20-20-20 (And This One Might Fly)February 15, 2012Posted by Todd Moss in Africa, Economic Growth, Oil Tags: Africa, Oil, Poverty
Lately I’ve been thinking Nigeria should be a little bit more like, of all places, Iran. Yes, Iran. And maybe Alaska. Here’s how. Africa’s most populous nation has been a massive underperformer since independence. It’s earned hundreds of billions of dollars from petroleum exports, but the average Nigerian has little to show for it. At least three decades were lost; average incomes in the mid-2000s were the same as in the mid-1970s. More recently, the economic data has been brighter. And there is always hope that the country has finally turned a corner. 5 Comments »Dubai, Magnet for Foreign Workers, Could Do Better by Easing Labor Mobility RestrictionsJanuary 13, 2012Posted by Vijaya Ramachandran in Economic Growth, Migration Tags: labor mobility
The story of Dubai is remarkable. In six decades it has grown from a small fishing village to a gleaming metropolis with a per capita GDP comparable to that of the United States. In many ways, Dubai must be seen to be believed. Even its skyline is unreal–rising straight out of the desert and dominated by the tallest building in the world—the 2625 ft., 160-story, silver-and-glass Burj Khalifa. Dubai is also home to the largest port in the Middle East (Jebel Ali), and serves as the hub for Emirates, one of the best airlines in the world. In recent years, a construction boom and bust has tempered the development of this city in the desert. But new reports suggest that the Emirate is undertaking a significant restructuring of its debts and is restarting its economic engines. 1 Comment »Happiness as DevelopmentJune 16, 2011Posted by Charles Kenny in Economic Development, Economic Growth Tags: development, Happiness, measures of development
CGD has just published my essay on using happiness polls to guide policy decisions. I’m a big fan of the economics of happiness –it throws up some very interesting findings. For example, take the coefficients from this paper. They suggest that people are a lot happier than average during moments of intimate relations and somewhat less happy than average every minute when commuting. But the average person spends a lot longer commuting than they do being intimate. So, overall, people are made about three times more unhappy by commuting than they are made happy by intimate relations each day. I’ll leave it to you to think about the potential personal and policy implications of this conclusion. Perhaps more relevant to CGD’s work, there is a growing number of papers looking at subjective measures of the quality of life in developed and developing countries alike that are suggesting some of our traditional objective measures miss a lot of what is going on. Carol Graham at Brookings notes the paradox of happy peasants and miserable millionaires–a number of those people who have benefited most in terms of income gains are some of the least content. Surveys of Dalits in India suggest that a whole raft of (positive) social changes are going on that are missed by traditional poverty analyses. So, three cheers to subjective wellbeing analysis for opening up some exciting new approaches to old questions. 2 Comments »Cash at Your Fingertips: Biometric Technology for Transfer SystemsJune 16, 2011Posted by Alan Gelb in Economic Development, Economic Growth, Global Development, Technology Tags: Biometrics, cash transfers, Technology
This is a joint post with Caroline Decker Last week CGD published our working paper on the use of fingerprint and iris scans for cash transfers. As we continue to look into this topic, we are even more convinced of the potential this technology has for transfer systems, particularly those in resource-rich countries. Cash transfers are increasingly being used by developing countries and development agencies to address a range of economic and social problems, including human investment and greater equality. But the option to directly distribute natural rent to citizens of resource-rich developing countries may also be especially relevant. Such an approach could encourage better resource management and head off the governance problems associated with the concentration of large rents in the hands of the state. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to establish efficient transfer programs in developing countries, many with a record of corruption and leakage. Evidence suggests that even well designed transfer programs experience 10-20 percent leakage, if not higher. Comment »Good News: History Does Not Equal DestinyJune 13, 2011Posted by Charles Kenny in Economic Development, Economic Growth, Global Development, Poverty Tags: Charles Kenny, development, Economic Growth, Getting Better, Income
Five years ago, probably the most positive you could be about global development was to argue that, despite a sluggish performance in reducing global income poverty connected to slow-changing institutions, broader quality of life in areas like education and health had improved everywhere. That’s pretty much the story I told in Getting Better. But since then, what we have learned about development progress suggests such a story isn’t nearly positive enough. Three recent publications add to the growing pile of good news. First off, CGD visiting fellow Andy Sumner’s work on the New Bottom Billion highlights the declining number of poor countries and poor people worldwide. He’s not alone: our friends across the road in Brookings, Laurence Chandy and Geoffrey Gertz, have made a similar point: we’ve seen historically unprecedented progress in poverty reduction over the past twenty years. And the progress is truly global –not least, many countries South of the Sahara have had a great decade, as highlighted in Steve Radelet’s Emerging Africa. The number of low income countries worldwide dropped from 60 to 39 between 2003 and 2009 alone. 4 Comments »The True True Size of AfricaNovember 11, 2010Posted by Nancy Birdsall in Africa, Economic Development, Economic Growth, Regions Tags: Africa, Cartography, Economic Size, Regions
The Economist has a nice piece here on the True Size of Africa. It’s about geographic size (Africa is bigger than you think – which is true for all countries and regions near the equator that don’t benefit from the Mercator distortion in our two-dimensional map world). Read More… 1 Comment »Mother Earth Lit Up Here but Not Yet ThereDecember 1, 2009Posted by Nancy Birdsall in Climate Change, Economic Growth Tags: China, India, Power sector
Here are two pictures (taken by astronaut Sunita Williams) of mother earth that capture why Arvind Subramanian and I are urging climate negotiators to rethink the narrative in Copenhagen. The picture on the left is the global North – you can see developed countries ringing the largely uninhabited (and unlit) North Pole and lighting the cosmos with their energy output . The picture on the right shows Africa at night – home to over one billion people yet also largely unlit. 1 Comment »Major NGOs Comment on COD AidNovember 6, 2009Posted by Ayah Mahgoub in Aid Effectiveness, Economic Development, Economic Growth, Global Development Tags: Cash on Delivery AidThis is a joint post with Nancy Birdsall and Bill Savedoff. During a panel discussion we hosted at the World Bank and IMF annual meetings in Istanbul last month on mutual accountability and outcomes in aid, Max Lawson from Oxfam, in referring to COD Aid, said that CGD appears to have more effective publicity strategies and reach than the European Commission. While we do have a (small but) stellar communications team, our ideas spread far primarily because other organizations are seriously engaged in exploring and debating new ideas like the ones we have proposed (otherwise our tiny team would be sleepless, to say the least!). One case in point is the recent COD Aid briefing paper issued by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) – a large international development organization based in the UK which raises about 75% of its funds from individual supporters. Read More… 2 Comments »Connecting the Demographic DotsOctober 7, 2009Posted by Rachel Nugent in Africa, Economic Development, Economic Growth, Global Development, Regions Tags: Demographics, Population, RegionsDanielle Kuczynski contributed to this post A recent Economist on-line poll asked: Does the world have too many people? There was a predictable response: from their Blackberries or the comfort of their swivel chairs, 80% of Economist voters clicked on yes. You can be sure the respondents are neither the folks having lots of children, nor the ones suffering from the environmental impact of lots of people on the Earth. Yet the commentary accompanying the poll was intriguing, because the same people who agree that the world is over populated don’t agree about what that means, nor what to do about it. Read More… 1 Comment »It’s Not All Downhill from Here: The Uphill Flow of Skill-Intensive Goods and FDI from Developing CountriesAugust 10, 2009Posted by Arvind Subramanian in Economic Growth, Global Development Tags: Add new tag, Capital Flows, FDI, Foreign Direct Investment, Globalization, Protectionism, TradeWe tend to think of globalization in the following way: the rich world exports financial capital, technology, sophisticated goods, and entrepreneurial and managerial skills in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI) to developing countries; the latter, in turn, export people, resources, and low-skilled goods to the rich world. Well, it turns out that globalization no longer respects these clean distinctions. Many recent studies have examined movement of capital from developing to high-income countries, with the assumption that only flows of finance could defy our expectations. But, increasingly, even flows of of sophisticated goods and FDI are going in both directions, a phenomenon Aaditya Mattoo and I call “Criss-crossing Globalization” in our latest paper. Countries such as China are exporting sophisticated goods to OECD countries, and countries such as India, Brazil, and South Africa are exporting FDI to the rich world. Think of Indian TATA’s takeover of the UK’s Jaguar, China’s Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM, Brazil’s success exporting commercial aircraft to high-income countries, and the growing exports of skilled services from Israel and India to OECD markets, and it’s clear that something significant is happening. We call these flows of skill-intensive goods and FDI from poor countries to rich countries “uphill flows”—uphill because they are defying the normal pattern of comparative advantage. What are the consequences for countries that send goods and services uphill? Our preliminary work suggests that such countries experience positive economic growth as a result. If this is true, it suggests that policies that promote skill-intensive patterns of production and specialization—even if they go against natural comparative advantage—may need to be considered by developing countries. A second consequence—and one that will perhaps play out more in the future—relates to the political economy of international trade and investment negotiations. When flows are two-way, perceived objectives of high-income and developing countries are more in sync with one another, which makes the political economy much more conducive to reaching agreement on common international rules. This could be good for all countries, developed and developing. 2 Comments »What Can Africa Hope For During Clinton Visit?July 31, 2009Posted by Todd Moss in Aid Effectiveness, Economic Growth, Global Development, Governance/Democracy, Poverty Tags: Foreign Aid Reform, Governance/Democracy, Security and Development, USAIDThis blog also appeared on the Huffington Post Comment »The Expanding Role of the Fed and Why It Matters for DevelopmentJuly 27, 2009Posted by Liliana Rojas-Suarez in Capitol Flows/Financial Crisis, Economic Growth, Global Development Tags: Federal Reserve
2 Comments »Liberia Cuts its Debt with $1.2 Billion Buy-Back at 97 Percent DiscountApril 16, 2009Posted by Steve Radelet in Debt Relief, Economic Growth, Global Development, International Financial Institutions, Regions Tags: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, International Financial Institutions, Liberia, World Bank
6 Comments »Tim Geithner and Lawrence Summers – Good Picks for the U.S. and the World’s PoorNovember 24, 2008Posted by Nancy Birdsall in 2008 Presidential Election, Aid Effectiveness, Capitol Flows/Financial Crisis, Cash on Delivery Aid, Debt Relief, Economic Development, Economic Growth, Financial Crisis, Foreign Aid Reform, Global Education, Global Health, Governance/Democracy, Human Rights, International Monetary Fund, Migration and Labor Mobility, Millions Saved, News, The Future of the World Bank, U.S. Foreign Aid Reform, United Nations, World Bank Tags: Cash on Delivery Aid, Foreign Aid Reform, Governance/Democracy, IMF, Millions Saved, U.S. Presidential Elections, World Bank
10 Comments »The Conventions are Coming…and CGD is Going!August 22, 2008Posted by Sarah Jane Staats in 2008 Presidential Election, Economic Development, Economic Growth, Foreign Aid Reform, Globalization, Globalization and Inequality, Governance/Democracy, Inequality, Migration and Labor Mobility, Modernizing U.S. Foreign Assistance, United Nations, World Trade Organization Tags: Foreign Aid Reform, Globalization and Inequality, Governance/Democracy, Inequality, U.S. Presidential ElectionsEveryone says August in Washington, D.C. is quiet. That is of course, unless you are planning to attend the presidential conventions and from what I can tell, just about everyone is sending someone to the conventions. And this time around, CGD is going to both of them.
CGD President Nancy Birdsall and I are headed to Denver next week for the Democratic National Convention and to Minneapolis the following week for the Republican National Convention. While some may think we’re going for the parties (Kanye West? Willie Nelson? LeAnn Rimes? Rage Against the Machine?) we are not. There is actually a lot more going on related to global development at the conventions than one might expect. Comment »Can the MDBs Jump-Start the Market for Country Risk Management Tools?April 21, 2008Posted by Nancy Lee in Economic Development, Economic Growth, Migration and Labor Mobility
Comment »Bob Zoellick is Leading the World Bank in the Right Direction. Will Bank Staff and Shareholders Follow?April 3, 2008Posted by Nancy Birdsall in Economic Development, Economic Growth, Food Aid, Global Warming, Globalization, Migration and Labor Mobility, News, Trade, World Bank, World Trade Organization Tags: Food Aid, Trade, World Bank, World Trade Organization
2 Comments »Data sources for development researchDecember 3, 2007Posted by Michael Clemens in Economic Development, Economic Growth, Migration and Labor MobilityYou might have seen Gunilla Pettersson’s excellent Development Data site mentioned recently on Dani Rodrik’s blog. Any development researcher will find riches in what Gunilla has carefully amassed and organized. Here are some other general-interest sources of data for empirical research on economic development: 1 Comment »Warren Buffett’s Gift to the Gates Foundation: Money that can make a differenceJune 26, 2006Posted by Ruth Levine in Economic Growth, Uncategorized“It’s easier to create money than to spend it.” So said Warren Buffett, long before his announcement on Sunday that he would donate the lion’s share of his personal fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation will then have the none-too-easy task of finding the right uses for an additional $1.5 billion of grants each year, doubling their current outflow. For those in the development world who have scrambled to keep up with the Gates Foundation’s influence — first on global health and soon on international agriculture and financial services for the poor — the prospect of a mega-foundation with some $70 billion in assets stirs the imagination. The Foundation’s influence on international development will be remarkable, in part because of the volume of resources (more than the market value of the IMF’s gold); but more importantly because of the special nature of the money: it’s flexible, patient and has a risk-reward calculus as part of its DNA. In other words, it is the polar opposite of the type of money that USAID and most other development agencies handle, which tends to be rigidly earmarked, allocated year-to-year, and driven by bureaucratic imperatives. 11 Comments »Reflections on Launching Three Books about Poverty, Inequality, and Economic GrowthAugust 10, 2004Posted by Peter Timmer in Economic Growth, Inequality, Poverty Tags: Inequality, PovertyBy C. Peter Timmer and Ashley S. Timmer Access the full commentary (PDF) Comment »
|
|
|
|
CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
1800 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Third Floor
Washington DC 20036
Tel 202.416.4000 | Fax 202.416.4050
|
|
|
Print
Share
In a recent interview on 
In a huge step forward, this week Liberia slashed its foreign debt by buying back $1.2 billion in commercial debt — about one-quarter of its foreign debt — from its private foreign creditors, including banks, hedge funds, and other “distressed debt” investment funds. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 
We at CGD warmly welcome president-elect Barack Obama’s appointments of Timothy Geithner as Secretary of Treasury and Lawrence Summers to head the National Economic Council. Both are members of the 
CGD recently hosted a roundtable discussion on a set of important questions confronting the multilateral development banks (MDBs) as the market for their loans shrinks: can they help to foster a greatly expanded market for new risk management tools — such as insurance and other hedging mechanisms — to help developing countries manage macroeconomic volatility and risks related to trade, liquidity, currency shocks, and natural disasters? And can they do this in a way that augments rather than competes with products that private financial institutions offer?
World Bank president Bob Zoellick announced several striking 
