WASHINGTON — There are two sets of policy issues emanating from the rubble and horror of Port-au-Prince: “Whither Haiti?” and “Whither relief aid?”
With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah visiting the country, most of the attention is on the first question. Is there, policymakers are asking, … Continue Reading…
COPENHAGEN — It will be discussed for some time whether the “Copenhagen Accord” represents an unsatisfactory compromise or an unmitigated failure. Whatever the ultimate answer, there are some preliminary lessons that can be drawn from a memorably chaotic global gathering.
Besides resolving to clamp down on bankers’ bonuses, the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh produced two major results. The first was a pledge to expand emerging markets’ say and sway in the IMF by increasing their quota by five percentage points to 43 percent of the total. The U.S.-sponsored idea will … Continue Reading…
The March rally in global equities has been underpinned by the massive policy response from governments around the world. How ironic, then, that the very policies promoting global growth—fiscal spending, tax breaks, bank bailouts, etc.—could ultimately be diluted by government initiatives supportive of protectionism.
Protectionism has become a growth industry, with … Continue Reading…
Francois Lafond, the director of the GMF Paris office, was interviewed by France 24 about Obama’s recent visit to Africa.
To watch the full interview please visit this link: Fracois Lafond on France 24 (In French)
After years of neglecting the links between farming, insecurity and poverty, last week G8 leaders committed to shifting development policy away from food aid toward food production in the world’s poorest countries. They seek to address the negative fallout from declining foreign direct investment, exports, and remittance flows and the … Continue Reading…
On July 6-7, as part of GMF’s on-going disemmination of the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development, I had the privilege of engaging with over 100 business and policy leaders from Africa at the Commonwealth Business Council’s G8 Africa Business Forum in London. In my remarks to the group, I urged G8 … Continue Reading…
Many investors and policy makers have dismissed Europe as a spent and aging power, a region hardly relevant to the world economy. A decade of tepid economic growth seems to support that claim, especially juxtaposed against robust performance from Brazil, Russia, India and China — the BRIC nations — in … Continue Reading…
As leaders of the Group of Twenty (G20) largest world economies prepare to meet in London at the beginning of April in the midst of deepening global economic difficulties, there is real and justifiable concern that the meeting is almost guaranteed to fail. These fears are based on the scale of the tasks at … Continue Reading…