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IMF (GEF): Downturn After Boom: Slow Credit Growth in Middle East, North Africa
Posted 25 May 2010 | 2:54 pm

Slow credit growth in the Middle East and North Africa may be constraining the strength of the recovery in the short run, in addition to limiting prospects for longer-term growth. Policymakers are understandably concerned.
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World Bank PSD: Really investing in poor people
Posted 19 May 2010 | 5:33 pm

No, I don’t mean investing in health systems, education, sanitation, etc. I’m talking about taking an equity stake in the future earnings of poor people. This is an idea mooted in a science fiction novel called The Unincorporated Man and subsequently discussed on Overcoming Bias and Marginal Revolution (hat tip to both). This is the first I’ve heard of the novel, so I’m relying on Marginal Revolution for a synopsis: The Unincorporated Man is a science fiction novel in which shares of each person’s income stream can be bought and sold. (Initial ownership rights are person 75%, parents 20%, government 5%–there are no other taxes–and people typically sell shares to finance education and other training.) The hero, Justin Cord a recently unfrozen business person from our time, opposes incorporation but has no good arguments against the system; instead he rants on about “liberty” and how bad the idea of owning… (more…)

World Bank PSD: All the dogs that didn’t bark
Posted 19 May 2010 | 4:01 pm

Rising protectionism, over-regulation of markets, nationalization of private industry! All these were shouted as warnings about the probable consequences of the financial crisis. But as we have seen, many of these dogs simply haven’t barked. The first case in point is protectionism. As Harvard Professor Dani Rodrik argued in a column late last year, rising protectionism is simply a myth. Or as he rather colorfully put it: The reality is that the international trade regime has passed its greatest test since the Great Depression with flying colors. Trade economists who complain about minor instances of protectionism sound like a child whining about a damaged toy in the wake of an earthquake that killed thousands. But rising protectionism wasn’t the only dog that didn’t bark. A new note on privatization trends from the World Bank (based on data through early 2009) finds that governments did not nationalize (or re-nationalize) large chunks… (more…)

World Bank PSD: Mongolian meat markets
Posted 19 May 2010 | 3:13 pm

Last year, we almost starved a young Mongolian girl to death. We didn’t mean to, and luckily, the girl survived. When my family moved to Ulaanbaatar, we had a student live with us to help look after the kids while we were settling in. She was not a city girl, but came from a Khuvsguul province, in the north. She hoped to practice English and make some money to pay for her studies, and we needed some extra help. It wasn’t long before we noticed that she hardly ate. When faced with a salad, the poor girl would take a single leaf and move it around her plate with her fork. She would nibble at broccoli, but leave most of it untouched. I would watch with interest as she rearranged lentils on her plate. All we ever saw her eat with enthusiasm was meat, which forms a very small part… (more…)

IMF (GEF): Asia: The Challenge of Capital Inflows
Posted 18 May 2010 | 10:50 am

History has shown that persistent and large capital inflows can be a double edged sword. While they bring with them numerous benefits, they do pose risks and policy dilemmas. Continued large capital flows pose, for example, the risk of overheating and runups in asset prices that may subsequently render the region vulnerable to outflows and asset price busts. (more…)

World Bank PSD: Development 2.0: Give me less information and more data!
Posted 17 May 2010 | 2:16 pm

OK, the title is deliberatively provocative. But I found a coincidence of two blog posts last week to be quite powerful. Last week we had a blog post from Dave Snowden that challenged the “data to information, information to knowledge and wisdom” continuum that has informed so many of the knowledge management efforts in the non-profit and public sector: For the best part of a century we have been trying to move data into information. Some people have then tried to make information into knowledge and a few charlatans have attempted a transformation to wisdom, thus marking themselves out as the antithesis of the wise. With the capability of modern technology to augment human intelligence (but not replace it), we are increasingly moving in the other direction. Breaking up information into its source data and allowing messy, but coherent real time assembly in the context of need. Information carries too… (more…)

World Bank PSD: Are immigrants in Africa’s informal sector an underprivileged group?
Posted 12 May 2010 | 2:38 pm

In a previous post, I highlighted the importance of focusing on the informal sector in developing countries. Most obviously, the informal sector in many developing countries is large. Further, the low entry and exit costs and little initial capital required to start an informal business means that the informal sector is likely to be a large recipient of the relatively less privileged sections of the society (in my previous post, I highlighted the position of women in the informal sector). In my ongoing work, I compare another potentially vulnerable group, immigrants. In a survey of about 350 informal businesses in Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Cape Verde (Enterprise Surveys), roughly half of the businesses have a majority owner who is an immigrant to the city where the business is located. Systematic differences between immigrant-owned and locally owned businesses might be expected given that immigrants are usually a vulnerable group and take… (more…)

IMF (GEF): Asia: Exiting from Stimulus in an Uncertain World
Posted 12 May 2010 | 12:54 pm

With Asia recovering ahead of and faster than advanced economies, policy conditions in the region will need to start normalizing sooner than in several other parts of the world. But the fragility of the global recovery means that the withdrawal of stimulus will have to be cautious and gradual.

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About EBRD

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in countries from central Europe to central Asia (read more).