Articles
UN General Assembly adopts sovereign debt restructuring mechanism
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The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on principles to guide sovereign debt restructuring processes on the afternoon of 10 September.
This landmark resolution was submitted to the General Assembly by South Africa (current chair of the Group of 77 and China developing countries). It was initiated by Argentina in the wake of the vulture funds lawsuit by an international hedge fund against the country.
Read more: UN General Assembly adopts sovereign debt restructuring mechanism
Capital Flight and illicit financial flows to and from Myanmar
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This September 2015 study from Global Financial Integrity found that nearly US$100 billion flowed illegally through Myanmar between 1960 and 2013— draining domestic resources, driving the underground economy, exacerbating inequality, and facilitating crime and corruption.
The ‘true costs’ of supporting the private sector through development finance institutions driven by rich countries
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The last few years have seen a sharp increase in development finance institutions’ (DFIs) annual financial commitments. This reflects an increased interest in, and funding for, private sector development by most European governments and multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank and others. As a result, they are becoming major actors in the world of development finance.
DFIs lend and invest money – public money or publicly guaranteed money – to private sector companies operating in developing countries. The activity of DFIs has come under close scrutiny from several civil society organisations, including Eurodad, as well as think tanks and academics, investigating whether they are truly delivering development outcomes.
An End to Global Poverty: Philanthropy, Welfare Capitalism, or Radically Different Global Economic Model?
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There have been numerous estimates of future poverty to 2030 based on projections of growth and inequality that rely on informed assumptions and guess work. With that method, no matter how carefully done, you’re almost certain to get it wrong. So Peter Edward and I decided to do something different: look back at growth and its distribution since 1990 and see what it would have taken to have ended global poverty by now based on the actual data.
The answer(s): a modest redistribution of growth over that period, akin to global philanthropy, could have ended $2-a-day poverty, and more substantial redistribution through welfare regimes could have ended $4-a-day poverty. But to end $10-a-day poverty would have required a different form of economic organization altogether.
Africa no longer hopeless, but voiceless
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A profound change has taken hold in Africa over the last decade and half. So has a change in the world's perception of the continent. In 2000, The Economist magazine heralded Africa on its front page with a regrettable title: "The Helpless Continent." This is the world's premier economic newsmagazine that was established in 1843 with a mission "to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress." It took only a decade for ignorance to give way to intelligence. In 2011, the magazine sported a front page shouting aloud: "Africa Rising." Two years later its front page flagged an "Aspiring Africa."
