Finance & Development articles from March 2002

Finance & Development archives from March 2002

From the editor.
March 1, 2002... As 2001 drew to a close, there was a heaviness in the air and in people's hearts, as we wondered what the future held in store for us. Prospects for the global economy had worsened and become unusually uncertain, and the September 11 terrorist...

Letters to the editor.
March 1, 2002... Global digital divide READING Ashfaq Ishaq's article, "On the Global Digital Divide" (September 2001), I was reminded of the recommendations made during UNESCO's First World Congress on Informatics and Education more than a decade ago. One...

Sovereign debt bankruptcy rules. (In Brief).(International Monetary Fund executive's proposal for debt restructuring mechanism)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The IMF's Executive Board is studying how to help countries with unsustainable debt burdens resolve them in a prompt and orderly way. One possibility, proposed by IMF First Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger in the fall of 2001, is the...

New round of trade talks. (In Briefs).(World Trade Organization conference prepares ground for negotiations)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A new round of multilateral trade negotiations was launched at the World Trade Organization's Fourth Ministerial Conference, held during November 9-14, 2001, in Doha, Qatar. The Doha Development Agenda--which highlights the fuller integration...

Financing for development conference. (In Brief).(United Nations to hold conference on financing for development)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The United Nations is holding a summit-level meeting in Monterrey, Mexico, during March 18-22, 2002, that will address the challenge of financing for development around the world. It will bring together heads of state and government and...

Surmounting the challenges of globalization.
March 1, 2002... GLOBALIZATION--the process through which an increasingly free flow of ideas, people, goods, services, and capital leads to the integration of economies and societies--has brought rising prosperity to the countries that have participated. It has...

Globalization: The story behind the numbers. (Picture This).(policies to address challenges of globalization)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Has globalization raised living standards? Increased international trade and capital flows have been a major source of the unprecedented economic growth and rise in living standards globally in the postwar period. Evidence shows that...

The globalization of finance.(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... During the past two decades, financial markets around the world have become increasingly interconnected. Financial globalization has brought considerable benefits to national economies and to investors and savers, but it has also changed the...

Financial stability in the world of global finance: To reduce their vulnerability to national and international financial crises, countries must address the weaknesses in their financial systems.
March 1, 2002... SINCE the mid- 1990s, financial crises have erupted in half a dozen developing and emerging market countries in Asia and Latin America as well as in Russia. The costs for the countries affected have been heavy with the crises Leading to bank...

Is a G-3 target zone on target for emerging markets?
March 1, 2002... Would the exchange rate stability created by a target zone for the world's three most important currencies be in the best interests of emerging market countries? A recent study suggests such stability might come at the price of more volatile...

September 11 and the U.S. payment system: What lessons can we draw from September 11 to help us safeguard the financial system against possible future disasters?
March 1, 2002... THE EVENTS of September 11 posed unprecedented challenges to the operation of the dollar payment system in New York. In its broadest definition, the payment system is a network of banks, central banks, securities firms, service providers, and...

Making globalization work for the poor. (Point Counterpoint).
March 1, 2002... ECONOMISTS are sometimes chastised for their inability to reach a consensus view. George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, captured the mood rather neatly when he wrote: "If all economists were laid end to end, they wouldn't reach a...

Response. (Point/Counterpoint).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... KEVIN WATKINS's article, "Making Globalization Work for the Poor," contains much that is consistent with our article in Finance & Development (September 2001), which was based on our working paper, "Trade, Growth, and Poverty." We agree with...

Adapting to climate change.
March 1, 2002... Not much talked about but still worrisome are the economic and fiscal disruptions likely to be caused by global climate change, especially for developing countries. Policymakers should take steps to minimize these disruptions, and sooner rather...

Education for all by 2015: At the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000, officials from 180 countries set a challenging goal: Ensuring access to primary education for all children by 2015.(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... THE WORLD has achieved a level of economic prosperity that was unimaginable just one hundred years ago. And yet many people in poor countries still lack the essentials of life. In 2000, an estimated 113 million children worldwide between the...

Making AIDS part of the global development agenda.
March 1, 2002... AIDS is not just a health issue but a development problem that must be addressed at the global level. As countries increasingly recognize the need to incorporate strategies for tackling AIDS in their national policy frameworks, they are...

Globalization and the silent revolution of the 1980s.
March 1, 2002... During the 1980s, as many countries sought to adapt to a changing, sometimes turbulent economic climate, their policymakers underwent a dramatic change in thinking. How beneficial has this "silent revolution" been, and what can policymakers and...

Southeastern Europe after the Kosovo crisis.
March 1, 2002... In the wake of the Kosovo crisis, the countries of Southeastern Europe have made great strides, although they still have to catch up with their neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe. What form should their reform agenda take, and what lessons...

Institutions to support markets: To spur growth and reduce poverty, poor countries will need efficient formal and informal institutions that support market activity. A major World Bank study offers insights into how such institutions may be developed.
March 1, 2002... To spur growth and reduce poverty, poor countries will need efficient formal and informal institutions that support market activity. A major World Bank study offers insights into how such institutions may be developed. IN THE eleventh...

The End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression. (Book Reviews).(Harold James)
March 1, 2002... Harold James Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts/London, England, 2001, vi + 260 pp., $39.95/[pounds sterling]27.50 (cloth). HAROLD James presents a fascinating treatment of the implosion of the world economy in the...

Paradoxes of Prosperity: Why the New Capitalism Benelits All. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... Diane Coyle Texere, New York and London, 2001, xix + 316 pp., $27.95/[pounds sterling]17.99 (cloth). THE unprecedented technology-led economic boom of the 1990s has spawned a vigorous debate in both academic and policy circles about...

Out of the Red: Building Capitalism and Democracy in Postcommunist Europe. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... Mitchell A. Orenstein University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2001, xiv + 166 pp., $22.95 (paper). FOR THE past quarter century, opinion about the relationship between neoliberal economic reform and democratization in...

Work Without Wages: Russia's Nonpayment Crisis. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts/ London, England, 2001, x + 258 pp., $29.95/[euro]20.95 (cloth). RUSSIA'S economic transition has not been easy. Nor has it been particularly popular with Russia's citizens, thanks in part to the...

The surprising popularity of paper currency: Will the global underground economy be the prime destination for those large euro notes? (Strength Talk).(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... THE INTRODUCTION of shiny new euro notes and coins at the beginning of this year was indeed an exciting event. But one has to wonder. Why hasn't paper and metal currency already gone the way of the horse and buggy? With credit and debit cards,...