Global Development Outlook

Countries with large populations and with large resource bases seem to define the dominant economic impulse of the 21st century. With the contribution of prestigious scholars from Asia, Africa and Latin America, leading business and civil society actors, the Global Development Outlook (GDO) will monitor the impacts of the changing global economy on development, poverty and inequality, and promote change by proposing innovative policy solutions drawn from the Development Centre’s direct access to top decision makers in OECD and emerging countries. Find out more.

What's new

Does South Asia Run the Risk of Rising Inflation?

12-Nov-2009

Hyperinflation was once the scourge of Latin America. Today the median inflation rate in South Asia is more than twice that of Latin America and the Caribbean. Should South Asia’s policymakers look at this information and wonder whether they are doing something wrong? Eliana Cardoso discusses. Eliana is an OECD Non-Residential Fellow and the Chief Economist for the South Asia Region at the World Bank.

The 0.85 Percent Solution for Low-Income Countries

09-Nov-2009

As long as interest rates are so low and crisis needs are so great, it’s time to make IBRD resources more widely available to promote development. Homi Kharas, OECD Development Centre Non-Residential Fellow and Senior Fellow, Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings, puts forward his solution for helping poor countries through the crisis.

Social Equality workshop, 1-2 December 2009

29-Oct-2009

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and OECD Development Centre are holding a Workshop on 'Equality, Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development' in Helsinki, Finland on 1-2 December 2009. The workshop will provide a forum to discuss equality issues and to promote social and gender equality in development work.

African economies have not benefited as much as would be expected from the commodity price boom

22-Oct-2009

The Centre’s Andrew Mold and Annalisa Prizzon contributed a background paper to the European Report on Development (ERD) ‘Overcoming Fragility in Africa’. The paper looks at commodity booms and export performance in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, looking at the record from the perspective of export volumes rather than values.The authors argue that the average export performance during the period of high commodity prices was not as impressive as the previous period when African countries were confronted with very low prices.

Old habits, new donors

22-Oct-2009

Over time, traditional donors of aid to developing countries have set standards and best practices for development cooperation through the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC). How should these established donors respond to the arrival of new non-DAC donors such as India and China, who may not play by the same rules? The OECD Development Centre’s Sebastian Paulo and Helmut Reisen argue we need to prepare a new set of shared rules that work for emerging economies and traditional donors alike.

Aid conditionality: recipients can say 'no'

25-Sep-2009

Policy conditions placed on aid rarely improve its impact on growth and human development. However, donors continue to place significant conditions on their giving. A new study by Development Centre Senior Economist Andy Mold calls for more modesty from the donor community when defining “good” and “bad” practices, and concludes that the financial crisis should act as a catalyst for a thorough re-examination of aid conditionality. Recipient countries need to say ‘no’ more often to aid with excessive strings attached.

Migration in Central America: Governance and Links to Labour Markets

on 25-Jun-2009

The OECD Development Centre and FLACSO co-hosted a workshop on June 25th, 2009 in San Jose, Costa Rica to discuss migration issues in Central America, focusing on the themes of governance of migration and the links between migration and labour markets.

The future of reserve currencies

09-Jun-2009

The majority of countries keep their international reserves in foreign currencies. How safe are those reserves? What are the role and prospects of reserve currencies. Watch Helmut Reisen tackle these issues at the Saint-Petersburg International Economic Forum.

A Tangled Web by Amar Bhattacharya

08-Apr-2009

Everyone agrees on reforming the governance of financial markets, but who will do what remains unclear. Amar Bhattacharya is part of the Non Resident Fellows (NRF) program at OECD Development Centre.

Getting More from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

17-Feb-2009

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has directed attention to a sector that has traditionally been veiled in secrecy. However, it has not been effective in producing change. This article—by GDO researchers Dilan Ölcer and Helmut Reisen—analyses why so many resource-rich countries have failed to lower perceived corruption.

Kick-off for the Global Development Outlook

28-Jan-2009

In the past decade, the combination of high raw material costs and low capital costs has underpinned strong growth performance and rising foreign exchange reserves in most developing countries. But growth was also accompanied by increasing concerns over resource scarcity, increasing inequality and sharply rising food and fuel prices. On both a political and economic level, tensions heightened between Western governments and some of the new emergent powers.

Learning Lessons on Innovative Finance at the OECD Global Forum on Development

on 07-Oct-2008

Participants in this Global Forum Workshop discussed their experiences with innovative financing mechanisms for development. Focusing on the health sector, and drawing more particularly on a case study on the International Finance Facility for Immunisation, the aim meeting allowed for a useful lessons sharing exercise aiming at the improvement and future design of financing mechanisms. Presentations and background documents are now online.

Development Centre contributes to Accra High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

10-Sep-2008

A year of work on the “ownership” principle of effective aid has taught us: the best development policies have buy-in from citizens, parliaments and other groups, not just from central government. Moreover, they are not just home-owned, but home-grown. Our publications and events on "ownership" have been core ingredients of last weeks discussions on the issue at the Accra High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (2-4 September).

Have your say on www.whoseownership.org

24-Jul-2008

The principle of “ownership” will be at the heart of intergovernmental talks on aid effectiveness in Accra this September. Ahead of the Forum, the governments of Colombia and Switzerland, together with the OECD Development Centre, would welcome your views on how to put the principle into practice. With just one month to go before the Forum, this may be your last chance to contribute to its preparations.

Out now: "Financing Development 2008: Whose Ownership?"

29-May-2008

This book poses fundamental questions about the international "non-system" of development finance. Who really "owns" development policies? Aid-recipient countries or donor agencies? Governments or their citizens? And, with non-governmental donors growing in size, how are they applying widely recognised principles of effective aid?

Fostering think tanks in developing countries

30-Apr-2008

The OECD Development Centre held a high-level meeting with think tanks, official donors and private foundations on how endowments and long-term core-funding support can foster independent, policy-oriented research in developing countries. The main conclusions of the session will be presented at the 2nd Plenary of the Global Forum on Development, on 20 May 2008.

Does China Actually Improve Debt Sustainability in Africa?

14-Nov-2007

In a new G24 Policy Brief, Development Centre counsellor Helmut Reisen argues that China is actually improving debt ratios in Africa by stimulating exports, infrastructure investment and growth. He sees no evidence of China “free riding” on debt relief by OECD donors, as the bulk of its lending goes to resource-rich countries that did not benefit from debt relief.

Ownership in practice: Preparing for Accra 2008

05-Oct-2007

Everyone agrees that developing-country ownership is a condition for effective development finance. But examples of true ownership are rare. Our Global Forum Workshop on Ownership in Practice (27-28 Sept. 2007) left us with a rich set of case studies, messages and policy recommendations, in time for major international conferences in Accra (Ghana) and Doha (Qatar) next year.

The Rise of China and India - What's in it for Africa?

22-May-2006

African countries are not simply spectators to the economic rise of China and India, they are party to it. This book demonstrates how the growing economic power of China and India is already influencing the growth patterns of African countries, particularly oil- and commodities-exporting ones.

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