ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

The Frontiers of Growth

Have Russia and China proved that authoritarianism and capitalism can go hand-in-hand? Can legality be imported? Are some countries fated to race ahead while others lag? Does culture shape economics? Is unrestricted foreign investment a help or a hindrance to countries seeking to escape from poverty?

RECENT COMMENTARIES

FEATURED COMMENTARIES

Taking Back Globalization

Olivier De Schutter Series: Frontiers of Growth

2012-01-25

At Davos this year, the world’s economic and political leaders stand warned: do globalization better, or it will be derailed by the growing legions of the discontented. That means finally going beyond trade deficits and debt ratios to pay attention to the wider imbalances generated by unfettered globalization.... read

Comments: 4 Recommended: 0 Read: 9717

Islamic Finance Unbound

Mahmoud Mohieldin Series: Frontiers of Growth

2012-01-06

While uncertainty roils global markets and many investors are in full retreat, Islamic financial assets are growing exponentially. Though it needs to address several regulatory issues, Islamic finance has the potential to promote greater stability throughout the Muslim world.... read

Comments: 5 Recommended: 0 Read: 12243

More Unequal than Others

Pranab Bardhan Series: Frontiers of Growth

2011-12-01

In India and the US, many forms of social inequality have declined in recent years, but economic inequality has been on the rise. If both countries wish to thrive as democracies, they must find a way to make the rich feel that it is in their best interests to improve conditions for the poor.... read

Comments: 7 Recommended: 0 Read: 13767

Development Cooperation under Siege

Jomo Kwame Sundaram Series: Frontiers of Growth

2011-11-22

Globalization has helped to integrate developing countries into the world economy, but now that very integration is becoming a threat in the wake of the financial crisis. With the increasing likelihood of protracted stagnation in most rich countries, the prospects for development look poor.... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 6503

To the Jobless Economy

Martin Ford Series: Frontiers of Growth

2011-11-07

Nearly all economic forecasts agree that high unemployment in much of the developed world will most likely persist for years to come. But, given improvements in computers, robotic technologies, and other forms of job automation, even this dire projection underestimate future unemployment rates.... read

Comments: 8 Recommended: 1 Read: 14200

The Education Solution

Mahmoud Mohieldin Series: Frontiers of Growth

2011-11-03

The global challenges that we face today are proof that we need a world of problem solvers – people who are productive, resilient, creative, and versatile enough with technology and culture to find solutions to the many challenges we face. Education helps to build that world.... read

Comments: 8 Recommended: 1 Read: 16602

The Microfinance Catalyst

Tarun Khanna and Jayant Sinha Series: Frontiers of Growth

2011-10-04

When both governments and markets fail, impact investors can stimulate change. Microfinance – its advent, rise, and recent crises – shows how.... read

Comments: 6 Recommended: 0 Read: 16790

Thinking the Unthinkable in Europe

George Soros Series: Frontiers of Growth

2011-09-15

To resolve a crisis in which the impossible has become possible, it is necessary to think the unthinkable. So, to resolve Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis, it is now imperative to prepare for the possibility of default and defection from the eurozone by Greece, Portugal, and perhaps Ireland.... read

Comments: 26 Recommended: 1 Read: 51299

The Great Bank Robbery

Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Mark Spitznagel Series: Frontiers of Growth

2011-09-02

For the US economy – and other developed economies – the elephant in the room is the amount paid to bankers over the last five years. Investors, and the rest of us, would be better off if these funds flowed to productive companies, perhaps with an amount equivalent to what would be transferred to bonuses directed to well-managed charities.... read

Comments: 29 Recommended: 6 Read: 141666

The Challenging Billions	David Bloom
While the human race took perhaps one million years to reach one billion people (around the year 1800), we have been adding successive billions every 10-20 years since 1960. Will we be able to meet the population challenge, just as we have met previous challenges, through technological and institutional innovation?... read

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Rethinking Poverty Reduction

Jomo Kwame Sundaram Series: Frontiers of Growth

2010-01-15

The United Nations’ biennial Report on the World Social Situation (RWSS 2010), entitled Rethinking Poverty, makes a compelling case for rethinking poverty-measurement and poverty-reduction efforts. But there will be no real poverty eradication without equitable and sustainable economic development, which deregulated markets have proved unable to deliver on their own.... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

Modernizing the Middle East’s Economies

Prince El Hassan bin Talal Series: Frontiers of Growth

2009-08-19

Most Middle Eastern countries missed the first industrial revolution based on coal and steam power, and the second industrial revolution based on oil and the internal combustion engine. While this has spared them the burden of declining industries, they need policies aimed at joining the third industrial revolution - the post-carbon economy of renewable energy and fuel-cell cars.... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

No Licenses to Kill

George Soros Series: Frontiers of Growth

2009-06-16

Because the financial collapse that began last year originated from within, it destroyed the prevailing view that financial markets are self-correcting. But, having gone too far in deregulating markets, we must resist a natural tendency to overcompensate. ... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

Completing the G-20’s Agenda

Roman Frydman and Michael D. Goldberg Series: Frontiers of Growth

2009-04-02

In calling for measures to “guard against systemic risk,” the G-20 summit recognized the need to regulate the entire financial system, not just individual institutions. Unfortunately, contemporary economic theory, which presumes perfect price discovery in asset markets, discourages policymakers from addressing the role of asset-price swings in managing systemic risk.... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

The Storm in Sub-Saharan Africa

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Series: Frontiers of Growth

2009-02-04

As the world struggles with the most serious financial turmoil of the post-war era, attention has focused on the advanced and emerging-market economies most immediately affected. But the impact on poor countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, is far more severe.... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

Learning Globalization From Football

Branko Milanovic Series: Frontiers of Growth

2006-02-06

Football is not only the world’s most popular sport, but also probably its most globalized profession. It is inconceivable that Brazilian, Cameroonian, or Japanese doctors, computer scientists, blue-collar workers, or bank tellers could move from one country to another as easily as Brazilian, Cameroonian, or Japanese football players do. ... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

The False Promise of Financial Liberalization

Dani Rodrik Series: Frontiers of Growth

2007-01-10

Something is amiss in the world of finance. The problem is not another financial meltdown in an emerging market, with the predictable contagion that engulfs neighboring countries. Even the most exposed countries handled the last round of financial shocks, in May and June 2006, relatively comfortably. Instead, the problem this time around is one that relatively calm times have helped reveal: the predicted benefits of financial globalization are nowhere to be seen. ... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

The Trade-and-Aid Myth

Dani Rodrik Series: Frontiers of Growth

2005-08-03

Trade and aid have become international buzzwords. More aid (including debt relief) and greater access to rich countries’ markets for poor countries’ products now appears to be at the top of the global agenda. Indeed, the debate nowadays is not about what to do, but how much to do, and how fast.... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

Democracy Comes Second

Guido Tabellini Series: Frontiers of Growth

2005-09-06

Democracy is slowly spreading around the world. From the Middle East to Latin America and Asia, many autocracies are taking gradual steps towards more democratic and accountable forms of government, or have become fully-fledged and well functioning democracies. The US administration is determined to consolidate political freedoms in many developing countries under its sphere of influence; indeed, expansion of democracy has become a cornerstone of American foreign policy. ... read

Comments: Recommended: Read:

How Does the Weak Dollar Affect Oil Prices?	A. F. Alhajji
Around the world, there is anguished hand-wringing about the high price of oil. But if political leaders and policymakers want lower oil prices, they should be promoting policies that strengthen the dollar.... read
Let the Doha Round Fail	Dani Rodrik
Imagine that the world’s trade ministers simply walk away from their forthcoming Hong Kong meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with this simple declaration: “We failed to reach an agreement; we’ll try to do better next time.” This would bring the so-called Doha “Development” Round to an unsuccessful conclusion, but it would be no disaster. ... read

WEEKLY SERIES

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS

STRATEGIC SPOTLIGHT

GLOBAL FINANCE

ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT

ECONOMIC AND REGULATORY POLICY

ECONOMIC HISTORY