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World Development Report 2012

Arab World: A New Social Contract

Macroeconomics and Economic Growth

Davos 2012: Slippery Streets

Submitted by Kevin Lu on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 15:15
On Political Risk and Emerging Markets

The World Economic Forum launched its seventh Global Risks report before this year’s annual meeting in Davos. The top risk this year, among the 50 most pressing risks based on a survey of 400 top business leaders, is income inequality and its associated economic and political risks. The report aptly summarized this risk as the “risk of dystopia.”


Pop the Champagne: Developing-Country Outbound Investment Hits Record High

Submitted by Cara Santos Pianesi on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:08
On Political Risk and Emerging Markets

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has just issued its Global Investment Trends Monitor that looks at outward-bound foreign direct investment (FDI). Here’s the lead: The share of developing and transition-country FDI in global outflows increased to 28 percent in 2010, up from 15 percent in 2007, the year prior to the global financial crisis. These are historic levels, both in absolute terms and as a share of the global total of outbound FDI.

Another important snippet from UNCTAD is that a full 70 percent of developing and transition-country outward investment is destined toward other developing and transition countries—this is also known as “South-South” investment. The Monitor attributes this trend to the stronger recovery and economic condition is those destinations.

The Arab Spring, History, and Political Economy

Submitted by James Bond on Wed, 03/30/2011 - 11:04
On Political Risk and Emerging Markets

People in Maghreb and Mashreq countries, long used to being muzzled by their authoritarian regimes, are rising up to make their voices heard. This movement — if one can call it that — started first in Tunisia with the self-immolation of an unemployed street vendor. This desperate act by Mohamed Bouazizi, a poor 26 year-old university graduate without a steady job to support his family, brought out into the open the seething resentment of ordinary Tunisians at the 23 year rule of President Ben Ali.

What to Expect in Davos: Global Risk Landscape

Submitted by Kevin Lu on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:15
On Political Risk and Emerging Markets
One of the four themes  in Davos this year is risk management. The World Economic Forum (WEF) issued a report titled Global Risks 2011 earlier this month. It provides a high-level overview of 37 selected global risks as seen by members of the WEF’s Global Agenda Councils and supported by a survey of 580 top leaders and decision-makers around the world.
Issues related to macroeconomic imbalances top the list.  These are a group of economic risks including currency volatility, fiscal crises and asset price collapse, which arise from the tension between the increasing wealth and influence of emerging economies and high levels of debt in advanced economies.

In addition, a number of risks are related to geopolitics. They include: corruption, geopolitical conflicts, global governance failures, illicit trade, organized crime, space security, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction.

Lebanon: Open for Business

Submitted by James Bond on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 16:10
On Political Risk and Emerging Markets

Lebanon is a country of expatriates.  Nine million of its 11 million inhabitants live abroad, in places as diverse as Terra del Fuego, Côte d’Ivoire, and Columbus, Ohio. The Lebanese Diaspora remains profoundly committed to its mother country, remitting money to family back home, investing, and visiting as tourists. 

 

Political Risk Perceptions and the Financial Crisis

Submitted by Michael Christopher on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 11:24
On Political Risk and Emerging Markets

MIGA recently launched its new World Investment and Political Risk report in London to a gathering of investment and political risk experts. Based on a joint MIGA – EIU Political Risk Survey conducted last year, the report underscores that political risk remains one of the main obstacles to FDI in emerging markets.

Are Emerging Markets Leading the Way in Job Creation?

Submitted by Otaviano Canuto on Thu, 02/09/2012 - 10:09
On Growth & Crisis

Photo: Wiki Commons User_KozuchWith a few exceptions, industrialized nations are still struggling with unemployment, unable to recover completely from the 2008 economic crisis. In the U.S. things seem to be improving as the unemployment rate fell in January to 8.3 percent, its lowest level since early 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. But all in all, whether it is lack of job opportunities for young people around the world, or that the global economy is not generating as many jobs as needed to keep up with labor force growth, the global job narrative is one of doom and gloom.


Nevertheless, there are reasons for optimism, particularly in the developing world. While major industrialized nations still struggle with unemployment, emerging markets are certainly doing better.


According to the new edition of Job Trends, released by the World Bank today, emerging economies continued their slow but steady job recovery in the third quarter of 2011. We are talking about countries like Brazil, China, Mexico and Turkey. But they are not the only ones. Across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as in East Asia and Latin America, the employment picture has been improving over the past year in the 23 developing countries included in our global sample.

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