Ahead of the Curve: Ideas that Changed the World
"Ideas matter, people matter" - and powerful ideas "become embedded in institutions" said two authors of the United Nations Intellectual History Project series, Sir Richard Jolly and Thomas G. Weiss, at a meeting at UNCTAD's headquarter this month arguing that the UN, despite its shortcomings, has had a massive positive influence on the world.
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Reconciling Climate and Livestock Production?
The 2009 State of Food and Agriculture report was delayed for several months. After the disaster of Copenhagen, one could have expected it to provide the necessary guidance to policy changes for saving the Planet from further increases of greenhouse gases emitted from livestock. But FAO's suggestions are comparable to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
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The Superiority of the Financial Transaction Tax
There is an extraordinary strong support of civil society in Europe for the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). This reflects a general trend in public opinion. Not only many politicians - Merkel, Sarkozy, Brown, Barroso - have supported the FTT, there is - like all opinion polls show - an overwhelming majority of people in favour of stricter regulation and taxation.
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Global Unemployment on Record Levels
The number of jobless worldwide reached nearly 212 million in 2009 following an unprecedented increase of 34 million compared to 2007, on the eve of the global crisis, the International Labour Office (ILO) says in its recent annual "Global Employment Trends" report.
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A New Beginning in European Development Policy?
The European Union (EU) has a number of new faces in its Commission, a European Parliament whose hand has been strengthened by the Treaty of Lisbon, and a promise by the member states to improve the coordination of European foreign policy in its various facets.
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Copenhagen: A Serious Step towards Global Ruin
Two years of climate change negotiations have now ended in a farce in Copenhagen. Rather than grappling with complex issues, President Barack Obama decided instead to declare victory with a vague statement of principles agreed with a handful of other countries. The rest were handed a fait accompli, which some accepted and others denounced.
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Slow Economic Recovery or Double-Dip Recession?
After a sharp and synchronized global downturn, United Nations economists expect the world economy to bounce back with a mild 2.4 per cent growth in 2010. The rebound is due to the massive and to some extent concerted policy actions taken by the major economies. But a double-dip recession cannot be excluded.
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Climate Change: Does Copenhagen Really Matter?
While the world watches the Copenhagen UN climate negotiations and the enormous differences between the magnitude of the climate challenge and the ability of the world's governments to agree on anything in these negotiations, we may well realize that the world never has been changed by consensus or a unanimous UN decision.
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Mapping Social Protection in South Asia
Social protection has become a key area of policy interest on the international development agenda. Developing countries and donors alike are promoting social protection as a prominent policy intervention. And indeed, it can be an enabler for development - but only if the right policies are in place.
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Quo Vadis, German Development Cooperation?
The German development community has been through uncertain times since the federal elections took place in late September. The Social Democrats lost, and the liberal FDP, the main winner of the elections had put forward the demand of doing away with an independent development ministry in its election campaign.
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The Commission's "Whole of the Union" Smokescreen
Today, development policymakers need more than ever to work with colleagues to prevent and remediate negative impacts of finance, trade and other policies on developing countries. At the same time, the European Commission is proposing to change directions on policy coherence for development, undermining its power as an EU Treaty obligation.
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China's Amazing Rise in Organic Food Production
Is China at the "onset of an organic revolution"? Undoubtedly, the flood of food certificates creates the impression that one third of agricultural land is already under eco-food production. And clearly, there is a growing interest in "green food" by consumers. But not everything which claims to be "organic", really is.
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Towards Alternatives to IMF and World Bank
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are controversial among governments and civil society organisations for many reasons: their unfair governance structures, their harmful loan conditionality, and last not least the fossil-based project policies of the Bank.
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The Tobin Tax Lives Again
Tobin tax-like proposals are back on the agenda. Latest example: France and Germany managed to get the financial transaction tax (FTT) proposal de facto into the Pittsburgh Declaration of the G20. The IMF is tasked to prepare a report. Dani Rodrik comments the new momentum.
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Development Aid and Low Tax Developing Countries
For countries with low tax rates or lax enforcement of tax laws, the air is growing increasingly thin. Against the background of the present global financial and economic crisis, so-called tax havens are finding themselves faced with growing pressure to improve the transparency of their tax systems and discontinue unfair practices.
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World Bank/FAO: Deceptive Fortune Tellers
The dimensions are truly gigantic: Four million km2 of Guinea Savannah, "one of the largest underused agricultural land reserves in the world", could be developed for commercial agriculture, says a new FAO-World Bank study.
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The Scent of Money and the Stench of Corruption
When there is a chance to push a big loan out the door, some people just can't say no. Every World Bank President since James Wolfensohn has committed to fight the cancer of corruption. For more than ten years, the Bank has talked the talk, but has not walked the walk.
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UNCTAD Calls for New Exchange-Rate Management
More effective regulation and supervision of financial market activity is indispensable to prevent a repeat of the current global financial and economic crisis. But equally important is a reform of the international monetary and financial system, concludes the new Trade and Development Report.
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