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2852. A Business Case for Fighting Poverty
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Even in hard times, it can make commercial sense for companies to develop markets that include poor people, and business models that address poverty. Businesses that create decent jobs, access to markets or goods and services that benefit low-income groups in emerging economies help to build healthier, wealthier, and more highly skilled communities. Those communities will provide the customers, suppliers, and employees that companies need for sustainable growth.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Markets, Poverty, and Non State Actors
2853. Making Pooled Funding Work for People in Crisis
- Author:
- Tanja Schuemer-Cross
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- International humanitarian aid provides relief to tens of millions of people each year: in 2007 to more than 43 million people through UN humanitarian appeals alone. However, it is also often too little, too late, and unpredictable, or inappropriate to the needs of communities, including specific groups such as women and girls. The UN-led reforms since 2005 to improve humanitarian aid have begun - but only begun - to make a difference to this variable performance.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, Third World, and Foreign Aid
2854. Financial Globalization and Economic Policies
- Author:
- Shang-Jin Wei, Eswar Prasad, M. Ayhan Kose, and Kenneth Rogoff
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- We review the large literature on various economic policies that could help developing economies effectively manage the process of financial globalization. Our central findings indicate that policies promoting financial sector development, institutional quality and trade openness appear to help developing countries derive the benefits of globalization. Similarly, sound macroeconomic policies are an important prerequisite for ensuring that financial integration is beneficial. However, our analysis also suggests that the relationship between financial integration and economic policies is a complex one and that there are unavoidable tensions inherent in evaluating the risks and benefits associated with financial globalization. In light of these tensions, structural and macroeconomic policies often need to be tailored to take into account country specific circumstances to improve the risk-benefit tradeoffs of financial integration. Ultimately, it is essential to see financial integration not just as an isolated policy goal but as part of a broader package of reforms and supportive macro- economic policies.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Globalization, and Political Economy
2855. Thresholds in the Process of International Financial Integration
- Author:
- Eswar Prasad, M. Ayhan Kose, and Ashley D. Taylor
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The financial crisis has re-ignited the fierce debate about the merits of financial globalization and its implications for growth, especially for developing countries. The empirical literature has not been able to conclusively establish the presumed growth benefits of financial integration. Indeed, a new literature proposes that the indirect benefits of financial integration may be more important than the traditional financing channel emphasized in previous analyses. A major complication, however, is that there seem to be certain “threshold” levels of financial and institutional development that an economy needs to attain before it can derive the indirect benefits and reduce the risks of financial openness. In this paper, we develop a unified empirical framework for characterizing such threshold conditions. We find that there are clearly identifiable thresholds in variables such as financial depth and institutional quality—the cost-benefit trade- off from financial openness improves significantly once these threshold conditions are satisfied. We also find that the thresholds are lower for foreign direct investment and portfolio equity liabilities compared to those for debt liabilities.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
2856. European Food Safety Regulation and the Developing Countries: Regulatory problems and possibilities
- Author:
- Morten Broberg
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- This paper examines the European Community's food safety regime in order to identify those legal measures that cause the most problems for developing countries' exporters of food products and to point to possible solutions. It is shown that barriers ma y arise due to an array of requirements, some of which may appear to be rather minor legal amendments, such as changing a sampling plan. There is no easy solution to this problem, but three specific measures are proposed: Firstly, improved harmonisation of food safety measures in the industrialised countries. Secondly, when proposing new food safety measures the European Commission should identify the proposal's likely consequences on developing countries – and should explain how alternative measures will affect both food safety and the developing countries. And lastly, the European Community should strengthen its provision of development assistance to enable the developing countries to comply with the food safety standards.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, International Trade and Finance, Third World, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Europe
2857. Foreign Direct Investment in Blantyre, Malawi: Opportunities and Challenges
- Author:
- Sawa Nakagawa, Abhinav Bahl, Meron Demisse, Megumi Ishizuka, Francisco Miranda, and Kwi Young Sung
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- The Earth Institute at Columbia University launched the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), an urban counterpart to the Millennium Villages Project (MVP), to assist nine mid-sized cities across sub-Saharan Africa in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MCI provides research and policy analysis to the cities in order to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). Increased FDI flows create employment opportunities by fostering local enterprise development and sustainable economic growth. In addition, MCI is helping the Millennium Cities to carry out needs assessments in a number of social sectors. The data from these assessments will enable MCI to generate integrated City Development Strategies to help each city meet the MDGs.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and United Kingdom
2858. Assessing Infrastructure Constraints on Business Activity in Blantyre, Malawi
- Author:
- Zaki Raheem
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- In Blantyre, Malawi , population and economic growth are placing great stress on the city's infrastructure systems. As Malawi's industrial capital, long-term improvements to Blantyre's infrastructure are necessary to generate employment, strengthen rural-urban market linkage s, and improve the regional and global competitiveness of the city's industries.
- Topic:
- Development, Infrastructure, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Africa
2859. Building Blocks for Citizenship and a Peaceful Transition in Sudan
- Author:
- Kelly Campbell, Linda Bishai, and Jacki Wilson
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- Sudan's upcoming elections in 2009 raise hopes and concerns for the country's future. According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005 between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), Sudan is scheduled to hold national and state level elections in 2009. (Elections are to take place for president of the Government of National Unity, president of the Government of Southern Sudan, members of the National Assembly and the South Sudan Legislative Assembly, and governors and state legislatures in all of Sudan's 25 states.) However, delays in each phase of electoral preparation — including the passage of the electoral law, the appointment of the nine National Election Commission members responsible for overseeing elections, and the census — have raised doubts about whether the elections will be held within the timeframe outlined in the CPA.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Development, Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, and War
- Political Geography:
- Sudan
2860. What Is Poverty Reduction?
- Author:
- Owen Barder
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- There is a healthy debate about how to achieve poverty reduction in developing countries, but not enough discussion of what we mean by “poverty reduction.” “Poverty reduction” is often used as a short-hand for promoting economic growth that will permanently lift as many people as possible over a poverty line. But there are many different objectives that are consistent with “poverty reduction,” and we have to make choices between them. There are trade-offs between tackling current and future poverty, between helping as many poor people as possible and focusing on those in chronic poverty, and between measures that tackle the causes of poverty and those which deal with the symptoms. Because donors focus on just one dimension of poverty reduction (growth) they marginalise other legitimate objectives such as reducing chronic poverty or providing social services in countries that cannot otherwise afford them.
- Topic:
- Development, Environment, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, Third World, and Foreign Aid