Finance & Development articles from June 2006

Finance & Development archives from June 2006

Harnessing the winds.(FROM THE EDITOR)(Editorial)
June 1, 2006... THE IMF-World Bank 2006 Annual Meetings in September will be held in Singapore, one of the financial centers of Asia--the fastest-growing region in the world. Asia has recently contributed close to 50 percent of world growth, and its share of...

Aid must be better targeted for MDGs.(Millennium Development Goals)
June 1, 2006... With less than a decade remaining to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while considerable progress has been made in the fight against poverty, many countries, particularly in Africa and South Asia, are off track to reach their...

Mind your data.
June 1, 2006... More often than we imagine, data used by economists come from surveys. Apart from variables on institutions, public services, and corruption, even objective statistics on items such as inflation, GDP, wages, and taxes often come from...

Oil prices give new chance for bioenergy.
June 1, 2006... Under pressure from soaring oil prices and growing environmental constraints, momentum is gathering for a major switch from fossil fuels to renewable bioenergy sources, such as sugarcane or sunflower seeds, says the United Nations Food and...

Events in 2006.(Calendar)
June 1, 2006... June 9-13, Vancouver, Canada World Urban Forum III July 3-5, Geneva, Switzerland High-Level Meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council July 15-17, St. Petersburg, Russia Group of Eight Summit August 27-September 1,...

Economist as crusader: Arvind Subramanian interviews economist Paul Krugman.(PEOPLE IN ECONOMICS)
June 1, 2006... ECONOMICS made Paul Krugman famous. Punditry has made him a celebrity, famous for being famous. But Krugman aspires to be long remembered, and, in this respect, John Maynard Keynes is the gold standard. Keynes left his mark in three distinct...

Asia's winds of change: after recovering from the 1997-98 crisis, Asia is now facing new challenges of globalization.
June 1, 2006... ASIA, the world's largest continent with nearly three-fifths of its population, has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past 50 years. After the Second World War, Asia was a mix of poor and backward countries, possessing few natural...

Asia's role in the world economy.(PICTURE THIS)
June 1, 2006... ASIA has become a key part of the global economy, boasting three of the ten largest economies (China, Japan, and India) and accounting for more than 35 percent of world GDP. Asia's share of world GDP is rising, thanks to its economic...

Deepening financial ties: Asia's quest for closer regional and global financial integration is under way.
June 1, 2006... THE HOPE of better risk sharing, more efficient allocation of capital, more productive investment, and, ultimately, higher standards of living for all is propelling the drive for stronger connections between financial systems across the world....

The art of reform: applying lessons from Suntze to Asia's financial markets.
June 1, 2006... AS ONE of the fastest growing regions in the world--with the highest savings--Asia appears to have a bright future. But nine years after the East Asian crisis, the region's financial markets have not fully addressed their problems of...

Japan's back! After its lost decade, Japan's economy is set on a recovery path.
June 1, 2006... JAPAN is on the move again, and it seems for real this time. Over the past year or so, much has been written about the revival of the Japanese economy and its emergence from the ashes of the lost decade that began in the early 1990s. But for...

Creating a globally Asian community: how the rise of China and India is paving the way for an integrated Asia.(POINT OF VIEW)
June 1, 2006... THE CENTER of gravity of the global economy is shifting toward China and India. With combined populations accounting for one-third of humankind and building on decades of sustained and rapid economic growth, China and India are poised to become...

Asia's investment puzzle: despite the recovery in Asia, lingering uncertainty appears to be holding back investment.
June 1, 2006... THE BUILDUP of large current account surpluses in Asia since the 1997-98 financial crisis has focused attention on the source of these imbalances, with two views gaining credence among economists. The "savings glut" view contends that Asia is...

What happened? Why East Asia surged ahead of Latin America and some lessons for economic policy.
June 1, 2006... IN 1950, Latin America was the most developed region outside the industrial countries, with an average real GDP per capita more than two and a half times that of East Asia (excluding China and Japan), and about one-fourth that of the United...

Demystifying hedge funds.(BACK TO BASICS)
June 1, 2006... HEDGE FUNDS may have an aura of exoticism and modernism, but their goals are as old as the art of investing itself. They seek a positive annual return (the higher the better), limited swings in value, and, above all else, capital preservation....

Adding depth: Africa can achieve even higher growth through financial sector reform.
June 1, 2006... ECONOMIC growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is forecast to be above 5 percent in 2006 for the third consecutive year. But a key obstacle to further growth is the region's weak financial sectors--among the least developed in the world. Sustained...

EU: from monetary to financial union: overcoming the remaining hurdles to financial integration in Europe.(European Union )
June 1, 2006... IN THE 1957 Treaty of Rome, the founding fathers of the European Union (EU) set out to create a common market where goods, services, people, and capital could move freely. The push for financial integration got under way in earnest in the...

Deciding how to divide the economic pie.(Book review)
June 1, 2006... Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy Cambridge University Press, 2005, 540 pp., $28.00 (hardcover). Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson Francis Fukuyama famously pronounced that democracy, along with market capitalism,...

Brain drain or brain gain?(Book review)
June 1, 2006... Give Us Your Best and Brightest Center for Global Development, Washington, D.C., 2005, 246 pp., $22.95 (paperback). Devesh Kapur and John McHale As the world market becomes increasingly competitive, multinational companies in rich...

Weighing the risks.(Global Governance of Financial Systems: The International Regulation of Systemic Risk )(Book review)
June 1, 2006... Global Governance of Financial Systems The International Regulation of Systemic Risk Oxford University Press, 2006, 328 pp., $45.00 (hardcover). Kern Alexander, John Eatwell, and Rahul Dhumale According to the blurb of Global...

Paying for old age.(Book review)
June 1, 2006... Rethinking Pension Reform Cambridge University Press, 2005, 272 pp., $24.99 (paperback.) Franco Modigliani and Arun Muralidhar This is a turbulent time in the debate about pension reform. Following the earlier lead of many U.K....

ASEAN-4.(COUNTRY FOCUS)(association of south east asian nations)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The near-term growth outlook for the ASEAN-4 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand) is favorable, thanks to strong export growth. But sustaining medium-term growth requires reviving domestic demand, especially investment. Export...

Crabs in a bucket: why constituencies are as important as constitutions in battling underdevelopment.(STRAIGHT TALK)
June 1, 2006... WHY do poor countries remain stubbornly underdeveloped? A growing consensus in recent years suggests the answer is that poor countries lack the necessary institutions or, worse, have the wrong institutions for economic growth. Indeed, recent...