This paper studies the effects of public expenditure reallocations on long-run growth. To do this, we assemble a new dataset based on the IMF’s GFS yearbook for the period 1970-2010 and 56 countries (14 low-, 16 medium-, and 26 high-income countries). Using dynamic panel GMM estimators, we find that a reallocation involving a rise in education spending has a positive and statistically robust effect on growth, when the compensating factor remains unspecified or when this is associated with an offsetting reduction in social protection spending. We also find that public capital spending relative to current spending appears to be associated with higher growth, yet results are non-robust in this latter case.
Source: IMF
Erik Berglof, the EBRD’s Chief Economist, has delivered a speech at the ECB’s conference on “Emerging Market Economies as an engine of growth for the global economy: facts and challenges” in Frankfurt. Here is a summary of his remarks
Over the past two decades Eastern Europe has achieved a rapid convergence in income levels and significant institutional reform, but as this momentum has slowed many countries can now be described as “stuck in transition”.
The unique experience of transition in Emerging Europe provides a new perspective on the question of whether countries face a “middle income trap”. Many countries, particularly in Central and South-Eastern Europe have now reached income levels historically associated with growth slowdowns. They do not, however, share the characteristics that often accompanied such slowdowns in the past: their investment rates are not excessively high, their growth was not fuelled by undervalued exchange rates and, unlike other middle-income countries, they have not benefitted from a democratic dividend that is now exhausted. Moreover, it can be seen as encouraging that the East Asian countries that successfully avoided the “middle income trap” were, like Central European countries, small open economies.
Nevertheless, there are reasons to believe that even the most successful transition countries are in danger of getting “trapped”. Growth over the past decades was fuelled by very rapid improvements in productivity as Eastern Europe underwent a transformation from a capital-intensive economic structure to a more market-oriented model. Relative to their income levels, many countries have now eliminated this productivity-gap, and are unlikely to sustain the same pace of productivity growth in the future. Another defining feature of transition over the past twenty years has been the speed of reform. In some cases motivated by the prospect of EU-accession, countries across the Transition region made rapid progress towards creating the institutions required for markets to function. In recent years the reform process has stagnated, despite significant scope for further improvement. While this stagnation predated the global financial crisis in 08/09, the crisis may have compounded the problem by eroding popular support for market reform.
The diverse experiences of transition countries suggest that avoiding the “middle income trap” requires good political institutions. Across the region, the quality of economic institutions largely mirrors the quality of political institutions. In well-functioning democracies with strong legal frameworks, the transition process is less likely to be captured by particular interest groups and the threat of reform reversal is smaller. Improving political institutions may be a prerequisite for further economic reform in some countries and could ensure that they are not “stuck in transition”. Yet past experience suggests that political institutions are at best slow-moving and at worst structural. According to indices that attempt to measure institutional quality, the majority of transition countries have seen no significant change in political institutions since the early 1990s; an inertia that may be reflected in the more recent stagnation of economic reforms.
At the current level of institutions, the projected growth rates of transition economies are insufficient to ensure a rapid convergence of living standards with high income countries over the next twenty years. Decelerating productivity, combined with gradually aging populations, is likely to result in a slowdown of growth relative to the past decades. The danger of countries getting “trapped” could be averted by a reinvigoration of the reform process, however, this will require an understanding of what is feasible in light of existing political constraints.
Source: EBRD
10 July 2013 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a former deputy president of South Africa and women’s advocate, as the new head of the United Nations body tasked with promoting women’s rights and their full participation in global affairs.
Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka replaces Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile who served as the first Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women). Ms. Bachelet stepped down a few months ago.
“The Secretary-General expressed his gratitude for the outgoing Executive Director’s commitment in spearheading the Organization’s work on gender equality and the empowerment of women at the global, regional and country level,” stated the announcement of the appointment.
It went on to say that Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka brings to her new position a wealth of experience in advocating for women’s issues “with a combination of strategic leadership, consensus building and hands-on management experience.”
She was the first woman to hold the position of Deputy President of South Africa from 2005 to 2008, and has also served as Deputy Minister in the Department of Trade and Industry, Minister of Minerals and Energy, and briefly as acting Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology.
Among her many activities, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka established Umlambo Foundation in 2008 to provide support to schools in impoverished areas in South Africa through mentorship and coaching for teachers and in Malawi through school improvements with local partners.
UN Women was established in July 2010 by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to oversee all of the world body’s programmes aimed at promoting women’s rights. It is tasked with helping Member States implement standards, providing technical and financial support to countries which request it, and forging partnerships with civil society.
Within the UN, it holds the world body accountable for its own commitments on gender equality.
Source: UN News Centre
“Wherever laws prevent LGBT people from marching for their rights or teachers from explaining to a young gay man or woman that he or she is as good as the next person, wherever two men or two women cannot kiss in public without putting themselves at risk, human rights take a backward step,” declared Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France’s minister for women’s rights.
Speaking in a PACE debate on tackling discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, she urged states to continue their efforts and others, such as Russia, to reconsider their legislation. “The way to teach our children to respect others is not by stigmatising people,” she said, adding that “the right of LGBT people is inseparable from the right of their children to achieve their full potential in a family that is recognised by the authorities and protected from discrimination.”
Bringing about a lasting decline in hatred and the violence it inspires, by taking action at all ages and all levels, is a priority.
The Minister also said that France was proud to have joined the 8 European countries which, one after another over the past 10 years, had opened up marriage to all couples. The law, she said, also provided a means of tackling violence and discrimination on the ground. “It is more difficult to explain that a homosexual and a heterosexual are of equal value when one has fewer rights than the other.”
Source: Council of Europe
Read more on the following link http://hub.coe.int/discours-najat-vallaud-belkacem
The unique potential of adolescent girls to contribute to reducing and ending poverty both for themselves and their communities, often referred to as the "Girl Effect," has been increasingly recognized over the last decade. Donors, researchers and programmers have markedly increased investment in, and recognition of, the importance of adolescent girls' health, well-being and participation in their communities in an attempt to rectify historical imbalances that have privileged men and boys over women and girls. While girls and women around the world are demonstrating the value of these investments, it is also clear that overcoming gender inequality and its consequences is not their responsibility alone. Indeed, all global citizens - women, men, girls and boys - share responsibility for, and stand to benefit from, creating a more equitable world......
Source: International center for research on women
