Search

Begin New Search Topic Finance Political Geography Global Focus

21. The International Development Finance Club and the Sustainable Development Goals

Author:
Scott Morris
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) face a key dilemma . Although major multilateral institutions like the World Bank and the other core multilateral devel- opment banks (MDBs) have played a leadership role in shaping the SDG financing framework, there is a sig- nificant misalignment between the structure of these institutions and SDG financing needs . Specifically, the SDGs put countries, not multilateral institutions or foreign donors, at the forefront in achieving desired outcomes . Further, the SDG financing agenda identi- fies an important role for the private sector and other nonsovereign actors . Although the MDBs will remain key players in SDG financing, other leading actors—and particularly, other ways of organizing across institu- tions—will be needed to meet the SDGs . The International Development Finance Club (IDFC) is uniquely positioned to play a leadership role on the SDGs . A diverse group of development finance insti- tutions (DFIs), IDFC members collectively embrace a strong country-led focus and private-sector orienta- tion . Members represent a variety of models . Some act as national banks, focused primarily on domestic financing . Others act as bilateral aid agencies and DFIs . Still others act as regional and multilateral develop- ment institutions . Together they bring considerable financial and strategic resources to meet SDG financing needs, and they appear to be well matched to respond to key SDG requirements, including the call for nation- ally led development strategies and the need for sub- stantial private-sector and nonsovereign investment, particularly in infrastructure . This report surveys 22 IDFC member institutions to identify the club’s role in meeting SDG financing needs . Through institutional snapshots, aggregated financial data, qualitative inputs, and case studies, the report reveals a high degree of SDG relevance in these development institutions . We find that the total assets of IDFC institutions are significantly greater than the total assets of core MDBs, indicating that as an orga- nization, IDFC has untapped power as an organiz- ing platform for the SDG agenda . We also find a high degree of alignment between IDFC-reported activities and the full range of SDGs, though only a minority of IDFC members inform their operations with an explicit SDG strategy . Most relevant to the question of leveraging private financing for the SDGs, especially infrastructure, our survey indicates that as a group, IDFC members primarily finance nonsovereign enti- ties, especially private firms, in the course of pursuing development objectives . The IDFC could play a stronger leadership role on behalf of its membership by better aligning its mandate with the SDG agenda . We see a future in which IDFC members adopt common standards for SDG frame- works and for tracking the inputs and outputs relevant to the SDGs . Members should consider the degree to which they wish to make the club a meaningful plat- form for coordination, deliberation, and visibility for the broader SDG agenda . This agenda implies a wid- ening set of demands on members and may require a more robust secretariat to support a wider range of reporting activities, information gathering, agenda setting, and convening . Through a greater commitment to SDG-oriented activ- ities, IDFC members could demonstrate the value of organizing around national, bilateral, and multilateral development institutions to address the leading devel- opment challenges in the years ahead .
Topic:
Development, Finance, Sustainable Development Goals, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Global Focus

22. Fiscal Sustainability: Conceptual, Institutional, and Policy Issues

Author:
Marek Dabrowski
Publication Date:
08-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
'Since 2008, the world economy has been facing the consequences of the global financial crisis. As a result, many economic policy paradigms have been revised, and this process is far from complete. The policy area, which needs a fundamental rethinking (especially in advanced economies), relates to the role of public finance and fiscal policy in ensuring economic growth and financial stability. The primary task will be to develop a new analytical approach and detailed indicators, which are necessary to provide a correct diagnosis and effective recommendations.' What are the “safe” levels of budget deficit and public debt during “normal” or “good” times? Is there a single norm of fiscal safety?
Topic:
Debt, Financial Crisis, Finance, Global Financial Crisis, Macroeconomics, Fiscal Policy, and Deficit
Political Geography:
Europe, Global Focus, and Global Markets

23. Efficiency, Finance, and Varieties of Industrial Policy: Guiding Resources, Learning, and Technology for Sustained Growth

Author:
Akbar Norman and Joseph E. Stiglitz
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Columbia University Press
Abstract:
Industrial policy, once relegated to resource allocation, technological improvements, and the modernization of industries, should be treated as a serious component of sustainability and developmental economics. A rich set of complimentary institutions, shared behavioral norms, and public policies have sustained economic growth from Britain's industrial revolution onwards. This volume revisits the role of industrial policy in the success of these strategies and what it can offer developed and developing economies today. Featuring essays from experts invested in the expansion of industrial policies, topics discussed include the most effective use of industrial policies in learning economies, development finance, and promoting investment in regional and global contexts. Also included are in-depth case studies of Japan and India's experience with industrial policy in the banking and private sector. One essay revisits the theoretical and conceptual foundations of industrial policy from a structural economics perspective and another describes the models, packages, and transformation cycles that constitute a variety of approaches to implementation. The collection concludes with industrial strategies for facilitating quality growth, realizing more sustainable manufacturing development, and encouraging countries to industrialize around their natural resources.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, Natural Resources, and Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus
Publication Identifier:
9780231542777
Publication Identifier Type:
ISBN

24. Finance for Climate Resilience in the Dawn of the Paris Era

Author:
Shiva Polefka and Gwynne Taraska
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:
In December 2015, world leaders convened in Paris to adopt a historic agreement to limit carbon pollution and adapt to the effects of climate change. The promise of the agreement lies in the fact that it establishes a framework to drive progress, requiring successive national goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prescribing ongoing national submissions on climate resilience. It defines a new era of multilateral climate action. Successive national goals, however, are insufficient for the success of the agreement, even if they are increasingly ambitious. Success requires implementation, and implementation requires investment. A fundamental shift in finance flows will be necessary to achieve climate resilience and carbon neutrality on a global scale. Finance for adaptation to climate change is a particular concern, as it historically has trailed finance for emissions reductions by a large margin. Whereas the private sector provides the majority of global renewable energy investment, there is comparatively limited evidence of private investment in resilience efforts, which partly explains the imbalance. In Paris, nations showed an unprecedented recognition of the adaptation challenge. Despite their sometimes marked differences, countries coalesced around a common set of values—that adaptation and adaptation finance should be elevated; that the needs of the most vulnerable regions and populations should be prioritized; and that nonstate actors should be engaged to the greatest extent possible in the global climate effort. These values are reflected not only in the agreement itself, but also in a wave of commitments from both governments and the private sector. There are therefore grounds for guarded optimism that the Paris era could come to represent a collective pivot toward more adequate levels of resilience finance for the developing countries that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This brief examines the gap in adaptation finance that must be bridged in order to fulfill the values of the Paris agreement, with a focus on regions such as Southeast Asia that are at particular risk from the effects of climate change. It also discusses new adaptation finance commitments from governments and the private sector; the landscape of existing adaptation finance channels and initiatives onto which these commitments build; and the undiminished role of developed countries—such as the United States, Japan, EU countries, and others—to facilitate an increase in adaptation finance as the Paris era begins.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Finance, and Paris Agreement
Political Geography:
Global Focus

25. Game-Changers in the Paris Climate Deal: What is needed to ensure a new agreement helps those on the front lines of climate change

Author:
Tracy Carty
Publication Date:
11-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
There is likely to be a climate deal in Paris. The emission pledges that more than 150 governments have put on the table this year show that global climate ambition is increasing. But much more is needed, as it’s a deal that could still lead to around 3°C of warming. New Oxfam-commissioned research estimates that compared with 2°C, developing countries could be faced with an additional $600bn per year in economic losses by 2050, and see their adaptation finance needs raised by almost $300bn per year by the same date. But there is still scope for a stronger deal. In this media briefing Oxfam looks at potential game-changers on finance and mitigation ambition that could avert these costs for the world’s poorest people. These are the issues that will determine whether the Paris deal reflects the power of the biggest fossil fuel emitters and elites, or is a turning point which starts to address the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Politics, Reform, Inequality, and Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

26. ECOWAP: A Fragmented Policy. Development partners and regional institutions should address leadership and coordination issues in order to build a common agricultural policy for West Africa

Author:
Tracy Carty
Publication Date:
11-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Abstract:
There is likely to be a climate deal in Paris. The emission pledges that more than 150 governments have put on the table this year show that global climate ambition is increasing. But much more is needed, as it’s a deal that could still lead to around 3°C of warming. New Oxfam-commissioned research estimates that compared with 2°C, developing countries could be faced with an additional $600bn per year in economic losses by 2050, and see their adaptation finance needs raised by almost $300bn per year by the same date. But there is still scope for a stronger deal. In this media briefing Oxfam looks at potential game-changers on finance and mitigation ambition that could avert these costs for the world’s poorest people. These are the issues that will determine whether the Paris deal reflects the power of the biggest fossil fuel emitters and elites, or is a turning point which starts to address the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, Inequality, and Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

27. Nip It in the Bud: Disrupting Insurgent Financial Networks Before They Take Root

Author:
Tom Keatinge
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Fletcher Security Review
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
The rapid rise of Islamic State[1] has galvanised the international community to take action to contain it. One issue in particular – financing – has drawn increasing attention from policy-makers. As U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel noted in August 2014, "ISIL is as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen. They’re beyond just a terrorist group…they are tremendously well funded."[2] He elaborated on this further in a September testimony to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, stating that the United States would work with international partners "to cut off ISIL’s funding" and that "the Department of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is working to disrupt ISIL’s financing and expose their activities."[3] This decision by international partners to jointly focus on finance disruption has resulted in a bombing campaign partly targeting oil refineries (a major source of funds for Islamic State) and in a UN Security Council Resolution that exhorts the international community to inhibit foreign terrorist fighter travel and otherwise disrupt financial support.[4] ​ But will it work? This article will give necessary broader context on this key question by exploring in more general terms the importance of financing for terrorist and insurgent groups and the extent to which disrupting their funding can reduce the security threat posed by such groups. Specifically considering the evolution of Islamic State, this article will first review the importance of financing in conflict, then assess the way in which funding models develop. It will argue that, once groups move from a reliance on externally sourced funding to generating sufficient internal financing – a path several groups have now followed – disruption becomes significantly more challenging and complex. The international community consistently fails to prioritise the early disruption of terrorist and insurgent financing – an attitude that needs to change...
Topic:
Defense Policy, Counterinsurgency, Finance, Islamic State, and Financial Crimes
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, Syria, and Global Focus

28. Filling the Values Vacuum: The Role of Western Business in Emerging Markets

Author:
James P. Cain
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Diplomatic Courier
Abstract:
Dubai markets itself as the place where “the developed world and the emerging world meet”. Judging by the diversity amongst the almost 500,000 visitors to the Dubai Mall one recent April Saturday, the label appears to fit. Teeming with Asians, Indians, Eastern and Western Europeans, West Africans, neighbors from the Gulf and even a few Americans, the mostly under-30 crowds displayed the commercial frenzy that has been in short supply in the West in recent years. Exploring the ground level of the Mall, just across from the famous Dubai fountains and the 163-story Burj Khalifa, I was delighted to discover that the most popular and packed restaurant concept did not showcase a Mediterranean, Italian, or French moniker but a uniquely American one—Texas Roadhouse. Hand-cut steaks, Texas-size rib combos, and country dinners filled patron’s plates while the line-dancing wait staff that propelled this Kentucky-based chain to popularity in the U.S. a few years ago delighted hungry customers this April afternoon. As growth, urbanization, and megacity development proceed in Asia, Latin America, the former Soviet states, the Middle East and even Africa, Western consumer and retail brands are being met with surprisingly robust popularity. At the recent Gulf Food show not far from the Dubai Mall, a medium-sized U.S. company was awarded “World’s Best New Halal Food”. There is an immensely important lesson here: as Western governments curb spending on foreign aid, development assistance and commercial programs, a “values vacuum” is developing into which institutions, cultures and governments are stepping to promote their own ideologies and cultural values, or lack thereof. Already the largest trading partner in many South American countries, China built and paid for a $105 million soccer stadium in Costa Rica, but only after government officials waived the country’s tough labor laws. Russian companies are gobbling up natural resources in Africa as well as energy, infrastructure and telecommunications assets in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. With influence from Venezuela and its ally Iran, the newly formed “Community of Latin American and Caribbean States” proudly excludes America and Canada.
Topic:
Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29. Neologism as Theoretical Innovation in Economics: The case of 'Financialisation

Author:
Jan Toporowski
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
The term „financialisation‟ is a recognition that finance has come to play a key role on the modern capitalist economy. But users of the term do not agree on its meaning and recognition of the growing scale of finance has not brought about an increased understanding of financial processes. The paper examines the reasons for increased turnover in financial markets. The main themes in the literature on financialisation are examined and shown to lack a coherent account of financial processes that goes beyond the evidence of financial activity.
Topic:
Debt, Finance, Credit, and Financialisation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

30. The Macroeconomic Effects of External Pressures on Monetary Policy

Author:
Davide Debortoli and Ricardo Nunes
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Central banks, whether independent or not, may occasionally be subject to external pressures to change policy objectives. We analyze the optimal response of central banks to such pressures and the resulting macroeconomic consequences. We consider several alternative scenarios regarding policy ob- jectives, the degree of commitment and the timing of external pressures. The possibility to adopt “more liberal” objectives in the future increases current inflation through an accommodation effect. Simultaneously, the central bank tries to anchor inflation by promising to be even “more conservative” in the future. The immediate effect is an output contraction, the opposite of what the pressures to adopt “more liberal” objectives may be aiming. We also discuss the opposite case, where objectives may become “more conservative” in the future, which may be the relevant case for countries considering the adoption of inflation targeting.
Topic:
Finance, Banks, Inflation, and Central Bank
Political Geography:
Global Focus