UNU-WIDER : UNU-WIDER

Blog

UNU-WIDER Interview with Dr Kaushik Basu

by November 2012

29 November 2012 Carl-Gustav Lindén In November 2012 UNU-WIDER had the pleasure of hosting a public event with Dr Kaushik Basu, the newly appointed...

Blog

Africa’s Low Hanging Fruits

by Justin Lin, Yan Wang April 2014

23 April 2014 Justin Yifu Lin and Yan Wang At the onset of its miraculous rise in 1979, China had been trapped in poverty for centuries and was poorer...

Working Paper

Does Financial Openness Promote Economic Integration?

We study whether financial openness facilitates the economic integration of formerly centrally planned economies with the EU-15. Two dimensions of economic integration are considered: cross-country convergence of per-capita incomes and bilateral...

Working Paper

Political Economy of Additional Development Finance

The paper considers the political obstacles and supports for additional development finance and a number of possible devices through which advantage may be taken of the supports and the obstacles circumvented. It emphasizes the need for effective...

Working Paper

Development Assistance and Development Finance

Understanding the development effects of official aid is crucial to building a better bridge between research and policy. This paper reviews the current evidence regarding the impact of aid on growth and poverty reduction, and develops a new...

Working Paper

Innovative Sources for Development Finance

In analysing proposals for new sources of development funding, there are several issues that arise across the board. What is the role of new sources in relation to existing overseas development assistance? Should we be seeking new sources that...

Working Paper

Remittances by Emigrants

Remittances, after foreign direct investment, are currently the most important source of external finance to developing countries. Remittances surpass foreign aid, and tend to be more stable than such volatile capital flows as portfolio investment...

Blog

Paralyzing debt burden threatens Africa’s largest economy

by Geoffrey Adonu June 2023

Apart from a ‘badly flawed’ national election, insecurity, and mass exodus of its young talents to the Global North (locally known as Japa), a...

Journal Special Issue

Aid Allocations and Development Financing

The real value of official aid flows fell for much of the 1990s, and private capital flows to low-income countries remain mostly limited. The decline in aid flows may endanger the development process, since they finance much of the development budget...

Journal Special Issue

Development Financing

The real value of official aid flows fell for much of the 1990s, and private capital flows to low-income countries remain mostly limited. The decline in aid flows may endanger the development process, since they finance much of the development budget...

Journal Special Issue

FDI to Developing Countries

As one of globalisation's most visible dimensions, foreign direct investment (FDI) is central to the prospects for developing countries in the world economy. Key issues include the direction of causation between FDI and growth, the potential role of...

Journal Special Issue

Foreign Aid Heterogeneity

The present paper serves as an introduction to this special issue providing a justification for, and linking and introducing to the articles that follow. A central message emanating from the papers included in this special issue is that it is not...

Working Paper

The Provision of Global Liquidity

This paper analyses three major problems of the current international monetary system: the asymmetric-adjustment problem, dependence on the monetary policy of the main reserve-issuing country, and the large demand for self-insurance by developing...

Policy Brief

Governing Globalization

This policy brief is intended to outline suggestions and stimulate discussion at a time when the world community is thinking about, and is engaged in, a debate on global governance. The policy brief not only focuses on the reform of existing...

Policy Brief

New Sources of Development Finance

As a result of the Five Year Review of the World Summit for Social Development, the UN General Assembly in September 2000 adopted a resolution calling for 'a rigorous analysis of the advantages, disadvantages and other implications of proposals for...

Journal Special Issue

Development Aid

Following on WIDER's work on Development Finance which has involved three projects since 2002, a development conference on 'Aid: Principles, Policies and Performance' was organized in June 2006. Aid is one of the most challenging development issues...

Policy Brief

Sustainability of External Development Financing to Developing Countries

External development finance consists of those foreign sources of funds that promote or at least have the potential to promote development in the destination countries if delivered in the appropriate form. This rather broad definition qualifies all...

Working Paper

China-Africa Co-operation in Structural Transformation

This paper examines China and Africa co-operation from the angle of structural transformation as a major driver of growth and job creation. Being a bit ahead in the structural transformation process, China can provide ideas, tacit knowledge...

Blog

How Will the Financial Crisis Impact on the Developing World and What Can Be Done About It?

by Wim Naudé February 2009

Wim Naudé Following the US subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2008, the world is now staggering from financial to economic crisis as many high-income...

Working Paper

A Land Cursed by its Wealth?

In Angola, the availability of two abundant resources (oil and diamonds) has prolonged the conflict beyond its Cold War context. The geography and political economy of these resources were crucial to the course taken by the conflict. Matching the...

Working Paper

Loans or Grants?

We argue in this paper that cancelling the debt of the poorest countries was a good thing, but that it should not imply that the debt instrument should be foregone. Debt and debt cancellations are indeed two complementary instruments which, if...

Working Paper

The Asian Currency Crisis

What started in the summer of 1997 as a regional economic and financial crisis in East and Southeast Asia had developed into a global financial crisis within the span of a year. This crisis followed the crisis in the European Monetary System in 1992...

Working Paper

Economic Openness

Working Paper

Capital Flows to Developing Countries of the International Financial System

Recent financial crises, whose effects have been particularly severe in developing countries, have led to a wide-ranging debate on international financial reform. This debate has had to confront the implications of the huge growth of international...

Working Paper

Will the Emergence of the Euro Affect World Commodity Prices?

The emergence of the euro as a key currency, perhaps eventually rivalling the US dollar in importance, may have important macroeconomic implications for industrial as well as developing economies in the years ahead. This paper focuses on two related...

Working Paper

EMU and the Developing Countries

The purpose of this paper is to explore economic and political implications of Europe's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) for developing countries. In strictly economic terms, influences will be communicated through both trade and financial channels...

Book Chapter

China-Africa Cooperation in Structural Transformation

From the book: Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics, Vol. 2.

The main purpose of this paper is to argue that Ghana's economic recovery under SAP would have been much brighter if policy makers had not made some obvious errors in the application of the theory of 'comparative advantage' and in the selection...

Working Paper

Contribution Possible De L'excédent Japonais Au Développement Économique Mondial

1. La communauté internationale doit mettre au point des methodes permettant de soutenir la croissance japonaise afin d'attenuer les effets de l'essoufflement americain et d'enrayer toute amorce de deflation mondiale.2. Alors que certaines des...

Working Paper

Are World Financial Markets More Open?

Working Paper

The International Debt Problem

The aim of this paper is to raise a few open questions and to bring to light some mismatches between existing theories and the evidence. (1) It is shown that many standard international debt models unwittingly require some agents to behave...

Working Paper

Causes and Lessons of the Mexican Peso Crisis

This paper analyses in depth the causes of the Mexican peso crisis, so as to learn relevant lessons for similar crisis occurring in other developing or transitional economies. The study follows a relatively chronological order, examining first the...

Working Paper

Non-Financial Corporate Risk Management and Exchange Rate Volatility in Latin America

This article studies the currency risk management of multinational companies with investments in Latin American countries. The analysis is centred on episodes of currency or financial shocks, searching into the behaviour of the financial management...

Book Chapter

Economic Openness and Development

Part of Book Asian Transformations

Blog

Why we need a World Financial Authority

by John Eatwell, Lance Taylor December 1998

Butcher shops and banks make an interesting contrast, as the late Cuban-American economist Carlos Diaz-Alejandro pointed out. Both may sell tainted...

Blog

Cost of Capital: The Real Price of Green Energy

by Carl-Gustav Lindén July 2013

4 July 2013 Carl-Gustav Lindén In recent years the price of green energy technology has come down dramatically. This means that European investments...

Working Paper

The Financial Crisis of 2008 and the Developing Countries

Following the financial crisis that broke in the US and other Western economies in late 2008, there is now serious concern about its impact on the developing countries. The world media almost daily reports scenarios of gloom and doom, with many...

Journal Article

Employment Effects of Multilateral Development Bank Support

Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Employment

Blog

The West Is Finding it Harder to get Its Own Way in the World

by Ian Morris February 2011

Ian Morris The people of Europe and North America still produce two-thirds of the world’s GDP, spend more than two-thirds of its R&D dollars, and own...

Book

Financial Development, Institutions, Growth and Poverty Reduction

This volume explores the various linkages between financial development, institutions, growth and poverty reduction in low-income and transition countries. It is the result of a two-year research project undertaken by UNU-WIDER, and the strong range...

Book

Advancing Development

Leading scholars and policymakers reflect on current thinking in development economics and on what may happen during the next two decades. Covering the major themes in development in an accessible way, this original and authoritative contribution...

Book Chapter

Foreign Financing of Developing Countries' Private Sectors

Part of Book External Finance for Private Sector Development

Book Chapter

The Way Forward

Part of Book New Sources of Development Finance

Book Chapter

Innovative Sources to Meet a Global Challenge

Part of Book New Sources of Development Finance

Book Chapter

Global Public Economics

Part of Book New Sources of Development Finance

Journal Article

Introduction: Sustainability of Development Financing

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Financing

Journal Article

Aid Allocations and Development Financing Introduction

Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Allocations and Development Financing

Journal Article

Introduction and Overview

Part of Journal Special Issue FDI to Developing Countries

Book Chapter

Capital Flows to Developing Countries and the Reform of the International Financial System

Part of Book Governing Globalization

Journal Article

Financing the Provision of Global Public Goods

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Financing

Book Chapter

Proposals for Curbing the Boom-Bust Cycle in the Supply of Capital to Emerging Markets

Part of Book From Capital Surges to Drought

Book Chapter

Are World Financial Markets More Open?

Part of Book Financial Openness and National Autonomy

Journal Article

Loans or Grants?

Part of Journal Special Issue Foreign Aid Heterogeneity

Journal Article

Donor Funding of Multilateral Aid Agencies

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Financing

Book Chapter

Economic Openness

Part of Book Economic Liberalization: No Panacea

Book Chapter

Multilateral Development Banks and Private Sector Financing

Part of Book External Finance for Private Sector Development

Working Paper

Flight Capital and its Reversal for Development Financing

In this paper, we review the theoretical and empirical literature on capital flight. First, we discuss the measurement of capital flight. Next, we provide information on the magnitude as well as the ‘burden’ of capital flight for a selected set of...

Working Paper

A Holistic Perception of Foreign Financing of Developing Countries' Private Sectors

The paper presents a comprehensive survey of the ‘shopping list’ of sources of external finance that are directly channeled to the business sector of developing countries. Generally, our analytical survey covers the 1970-2000 period, and includes the...

Working Paper

International Finance and the Developing World

Much has changed in international finance in the twenty years since UNU-WIDER was founded. This paper identifies five broad contours of what we might expect in the next twenty years: the flow of capital from ageing societies to the more youthful...

Working Paper

International Risk Tolerance, Capital Market Failure and Capital Flows to Emerging Markets

The level, tenor and instability of capital flows from global financial markets towards developing countries are a major source of concern for macroeconomic managers, while their causes remain largely unexplained by economic theory. Country...

Working Paper

Debt Relief for Low-Income Countries

After analysing present, unsuccessful strategies of granting too little too late, a fair, transparent arbitration process (FTAP) on debts modelled after the principles of US Chapter 9 insolvency for debtors with governmental powers (municipalities)...

Working Paper

Simulating the Effects of Debt Relief in Zambia

The HIPC initiative for debt relief in the poorest countries has been extended to cover more countries. Zambia is one the countries accepted under the enhanced initiative for a debt relief of US$ 3.8 billion. In this paper, the possible effects of...

Working Paper

PRSP Processes in Eight African Countries

An almost accidental by-product of the enhanced HIPC initiative, the process of producing poverty reduction strategy papers represents at least potentially a non-trivial change in the way international finance interacts with poverty reduction efforts...

Book Chapter

CIBS, Capital Flows, and Exchange Rates

Part of Book Southern Engines of Global Growth

Journal Article

Development assistance and development finance: evidence and global policy agendas

Understanding the development effects of official aid is crucial to building a better bridge between research and policy. This paper reviews the current evidence regarding the impact of aid on growth and poverty reduction, and develops a new...

Book Chapter

Foreign Direct Investment, Innovative Sources of Development Finance and Domestic Resource Mobilisation

From the book The Millennium Development Goals: Raising the Resources to Tackle World Poverty by Fantu Cheru, Colin Bradford, Jr.

Working Paper

Proposals for Curbing the Boom-Bust Cycle in the Supply of Capital to Emerging Markets

This paper examines what might be done to limit the boom-bust cycle in the flow of capital to emerging markets. Although the paper accepts that some types of capital flow (notably foreign direct investment) are much less problematic in this respect...

Working Paper

Global Capitalism Theory and the Emergence of Transnational Elites

The class and social structure of developing nations has undergone profound transformation in recent decades as each nation has incorporated into an increasingly integrated global production and financial system. National elites have experienced a...

Book

New Sources of Development Finance

As their Millennium Development Goals, world leaders have pledged by 2015 to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to reduce child mortality, to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to...

Book Chapter

Remittances by Emigrants

Part of

Working Paper

Financing the Provision of Global Public Goods

This paper examines the concept of global public goods (GPGs) and in that context explores the extent of aid (ODA) presently being diverted to GPG provision and whether such diversion skews aid-flows towards some recipients and whether diverting aid...

Journal Article

Introduction

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Aid

Working Paper

Foreign Direct Investment in Emerging Economies

This paper analyses prospects for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa. The problems with regard to attracting FDI in small economies are not that different than those in larger economies in the developing world. In particular, lack of...

Working Paper

The HIPC Debt Relief Initiative

Since the mid-1980s Uganda has had debt strategies, which clearly laid down procedures for negotiating new loans and emphasized commitment to reduce the stock of debt arrears. Over this period, the country went through six Paris Club negotiations and...

Working Paper

Bilateral Official Finance for Private Sector Development and the Role of Non-Government Organizations

The study examines the official bilateral donors’ current aid practice for private sector development (PSD). In particular, it reviews the donors’ major instruments and channels for aid delivery and the extent to which official flows have catalytic...

Working Paper

Multilateral Development Banks and Private Sector Financing

The paper examines the role of the multinational development banks in private sector financing with a particular focus on the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The aim of the paper is to bring to focus, in an analytical manner, the past...

Working Paper

The Instability of the Emerging Market Assets Demand Schedule

This paper addresses the nature of the demand schedule for emerging market assets in both its macroeconomic and microeconomic dimensions. The former is usually analysed in terms of the ‘push factors’ (such as interest rates or contagion) determining...

Working Paper

Derivatives, the Shape of International Capital Flows and the Virtues of Prudential Regulation

The paper studies the trend towards the use of securities as a vehicle to transfer capital to developing economies, and how it is linked to the increasing use of derivatives transactions in developing countries. It also provides a descriptive...

Working Paper

Liquidity Black Holes

Modern financial regulation has been about the spread of market-sensitive risk-management systems for banks, the spill-over of this approach to other financial institutions and the retreat of regulatory ambition. There is evidence that these trends...

Working Paper

What Lessons have been learnt since the East Asian Crisis in 1997/98?

This paper discusses the movement of capital flows to and from the exchange rate regimes and monetary policies of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa (CIBS). Furthermore, we compare the level of financial stability, and the composition and...

Blog

Aid and our Changing Environment: What did we Learn?

by Tony Addison June 2013

24 June 2013 Tony Addison The Stockholm ReCom results meeting at Sida on 4 June was a lively exchange on all aspects of foreign aid and climate change...