Reforming IMF and World Bank Conditionality
The new century started with streamlining initiatives from the IMF and the World Bank to their conditionality, but these have not managed to deliver real change. The arguments have not changed over the last years, and opponents have become firmly entrenched in their positions. The machinery, however, seem to be coming slowly to life after the impasse.
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A New Deal Against Spreading Economic Insecurity
According to the new UN's World Economic and Social Survey, recent optimism that the corner was being turned on poverty thanks to faster growth in emerging markets and even some very poor economies is turning to anxiety, as the global economy downshifts, prices spike and weaknesses in formal-sector employment are exposed.
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The Political Declaration of the Group of 5 at G8
For the first time at a G8 summit the group of five countries which are called Outreach-5 (O5) by the G8 (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) held its own meeting prior to the meeting with the G8 leaders. The G5 Political Declaration is providing substantial alternatives to the multiple crises of the world - from finance to food security, from energy to climate and development.
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The Spectre of Global Stagflation
Inflation is already rising in many advanced economies and emerging markets. Will rising global inflation lead to a sharp global economic slowdown? Even worse, will it revive stagflation, that deadly combination of rising inflation and negative growth?
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Change IMF Policies Before Sale of Gold
US-based civil society groups are taking advantage of the most significant opportunity in at least a decade - and for the foreseeable future - to advocate for meaningful policy change at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They see a historic moment to work for an end to harmful IMF policy conditions that prevent countries from scaling up investments in health and education.
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European ODA: It's Not Only About Money
2008 is a critical year for evaluating how aid is helping tackle global poverty and inequality. Donor credibility is on the line as the world waits to be convinced that they will deliver on their many promises made to both increase aid and make it more effective.
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Food Crisis: In Grip of Financial Markets
The current price hike in food markets, some say, is caused by increasing demand, be it from emerging economies or for the production of biofuels, by rising input prices, such as oil and fertilizer, and by low stocks. Others consider food speculation the culprit. No doubt, agflation as the phenomenon has been dubbed, can partially be explained by speculation.
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Livestock: Contracted in Global Value Chains
In times of rising food prices, not only agrofuels but also industrial livestock production is under scrutiny. It is based on concentrate feed that competes directly with food and fuel, and indirectly for land and water resources. In addition, the livestock’s greenhouse gas emissions, as well as increasing human health costs and animal welfare concerns are calling for a change.
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Green Revolution versus Sustainable Agriculture
World hunger is not new. Before the current price increase, 850 million people - 13% of the world's population - were chronically hungry. The number of under-fed people has steadily climbed over the past decade. Now, the World Food Programme estimates that the crisis has driven another 100 million people into hunger.
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Financial Volatility and Food Crisis at UNCTAD XII
Limiting the impact of financial volatility and soaring food prices on the world's poorest and ensuring that the global economy benefits developing countries are among the key topics of the XII Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII), held in Accra, Ghana, from 20 to 25 April 2008.
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Rainforest Peoples Form Alliance for Climate Talks
The forest peoples of the world are joining forces in order to have access to resources deriving from the thriving green market, based on future mechanisms for the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), to be created through the UN Climate Convention.
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Spreading the Benefits of Globalisation
So far, only a small minority of top earners has benefited from global integration. Even conservative economists have begun to worry about social inclusion and effective redistribution. As many argue, it is better to prevent protectionist tendencies, which would cut the overall benefits of globalisation, and to share the cake more fairly.
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WDEV Dossier: The New Age of Hunger
World hunger is not new. Before the current price increase, 850 million people were chronically hungry. Now, the crisis has driven another 100 million into hunger.
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Bob Zoellick's Newest Blueprint for the World Bank
In the run-up to the Spring Meetings, Bob Zoellick, the President of the World Bank, outlined last week, during a major policy speech at the Center for Global Development four strategic areas where he sees a need for immediate World Bank action. These are the global food policy, the Doha Trade Deal, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, and Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) investment in Africa.
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Are We Approaching a Global Food Crisis?
By the end of the 1990s, food prices had plummeted to historic lows. But after the turn of the millennium, prices began to increase. And since 2006, food prices have escalated dramatically, raising fears of a global food crisis. The rapid price increase will worsen the already dire situation for the world's poor and hungry.
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8 March: Smart Women, Right Decisions
More and more women are entering the labour markets around the world, according to a new report (see reference) published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to coincide with International Women's Day. However, women continue to bear the brunt when it comes to vulnerable employment.
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EU-India Free Trade Talks: In Whose Interest?
"The Indian middle class is hungry for exciting food and drink experiences" - at least according to Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU Commissioner for Agriculture. The EU wants to export wine, whisky, olive oil and 40 types of fish, among other things, to India when the customs barriers fall. Yet to whom such treaties are really helpful?
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South-South Cooperation against Child Labour
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Last month, the Brazilian government announced a programme to fight child labour in Haiti to be coordinated by the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC). The programme is part of a major new initiative to promote South-South cooperation in the fight against child labour worldwide.
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Are We 'All Keynesians Now' - Again?
It was 1971 when Richard Nixon, a conservative, uttered the famous phrase "We are all Keynesians now". But there was a backlash soon to follow, with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. The economics profession did, in its research at least, throw out many of the insights that had made John Maynard Keynes the most influential economist of the century.
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EITI Initiative Beyond the German G8 Presidency
"Responsibility for raw materials", "transparency in the extractive sector" and "resource politics for conflict zones" were important topics of the German G8 presidency last year. Never before has the issue of natural resource management been higher on the international policy agenda and there seems to be a wind of change. But what exactly has the German presidency changed?
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2008: The Risk of a Global Economic Recession
The world economy faces serious challenges in sustaining the strong economic growth of the last few years, the UN says in its report, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008. There is a clear and present danger of the world economy coming to a near standstill.
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