For those of us following the US Election 2012, the words ‘manufacturing’ and ‘jobs’ are hard to miss. Building on that buzz, The Economist recently conducted a debate: “Will manufacturing return to the West?” While the US election is a good ten days away, the decision on this debate is out: Manufacturing will return to the west. Irrespective of the verdict, both the sides – opposing and defending the motion- have provided numerous insights in to the trends that are unfurling in China and US. Read them here.
Inequality, alongside jobs, is the proverbial elephant in the room amidst the US presidential elections. Joe Stiglitz has a new 'Campaign Stops' blog in the New York Times online that draws on The Economist magazine's special series from earlier this month. Stiglitz discusses the perils of underplaying the great divide between the one percent in the US and the middle class. Meanwhile, on the other side of the debate, Kevin Hasset of the American Enterprise Institute along with Aparna Mathur, write in the WSJ that inequality studies that focus mainly on pre-tax incomes are flawed because they overlook transfer payments such as food stamps, unemployment insurance and other safety net programs. Read the article here.
Did the financial blogosphere go away? Investigating the claim that financial blogging is dying, Felix Salmon looks at the “Econoblogosphere” and in the process discovers the most popular financial blogs. Read the article from the Audit here.
A few weeks ago we wrote about the 26 member panel working on post-2015 development agenda. The panel has set up an ambitious timetable and is expected to deliver the first draft in March 2013. During this time, the UN will be coordinating consultations with 50 developing countries to gather input. Read it here to know more.
Speaking of the MDGs and the post-2015 agenda, below is the video of the “The Next Generation of MDGs” session held during the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Tokyo. While you are at it, also check out our new “MDG and Beyond 2015” thematic sub-section.
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