How the economic meltdown and climate change are hitting Asia – new reports
The Asian Development Bank produces a remarkable amount of frequently high quality analysis. Here are two recent examples on climate change and the impact of the economic meltdown. On the meltdown, a recent ADB Economic Working Paper uses the latest national projections for growth and past poverty performance to refine the predicts that poverty across…
IMF 2.0 or same old, same old – has the Fund really changed its tune?
Has the G20 revived the neoliberal, austerity-wielding IMF of the 1980s and 90s, are has it ushered in a new IMF 2.0 (in the words of Time Magazine) that cares about countercyclical economic policies, public services and jobs? In late April, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan wrote to NGOs saying ‘I would like to make it…
Why equity matters more than growth: The Spirit Level
‘Growth with Equity’ is motherhood and apple pie in economic policy-making these days. But in a great new book, Spirit Level, authors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett argue that ‘economic growth, for so long the great engine of progress, has, in the rich countries, largely finished its work.’ Above a certain average income (the authors…
China as the world's biggest aid donor; water grabs; how the FT overthrows governments; road safety in Kenya; why rich countries question capitalism more than poor ones and a new initiative on greening urban economies in poor countries: Links I liked
Paul Collier argues that China is the world’s biggest donor, and that it shows the case for attaching more conditions to lending. Alex Evans passes on some interesting thoughts from Nestle boss Peter Brabeck-Letmathe – the recent spate of land grabs are actually about getting access to the water that goes with the land, more…