Towards a new consensus on the principles of policy-making for the contemporary world

UNU-WIDER Director Finn Tarp presented the principles in the Stockholm Statement at an event organized by the Universidade Pedagógica de Moçambique with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Programme

In his presentation Professor Tarp also gave an overview on how the Stockholm Statement came about and how he was involved in the process. 

In 2013-16 Finn Tarp was Member of the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) advising Kaushik Basu, now former Chief Economist of the World Bank. In the meetings held as part of the Council there was always a concern regarding policy-making in the modern world.

In September 2016 this concern was addressed at a special meeting that took place in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden. In the meeting 13 leading economists, which included four former Chief Economists of the World Bank, gathered to discuss the challenges faced by current policy-makers.

The outcome of the meeting was the Stockholm Statement, which does not lay out a blueprint for policy, but a set of principles that can help frame country-level policies and the design of multilateral policies. 

These principles are increasingly needed in today’s rapidly changing and globalizing world.

View and download Finn Tarp's presentation slides

View and download the event brochure (in Portuguese)

About the Stockholm Statement

Thirteen economists, which included four former Chief Economists of the World Bank, met over two days at Saltsjöbaden, Sweden, on 16-17 September 2016, to discuss the challenges faced by today’s economic policy makers. The meeting was hosted by the Swedish International Development Agency and the World Bank. The group consisted of Sabina Alkire (Oxford), Pranab Bardhan (Berkeley), Kaushik Basu (New York), Haroon Bhorat (Cape Town), Francois Bourguignon (Paris), Ashwini Deshpande (Delhi), Ravi Kanbur (Ithaca), Justin Yifu Lin (Beijing), Kalle Moene (Oslo), Jean-Philippe Platteau (Namur), Jaime Saavedra (Lima), Joseph Stiglitz (New York), and Finn Tarp (Helsinki and Copenhagen). At the end of the meeting the group decided to issue a statement of the consensus reached among them: the 'Stockholm Statement'.

These are the principles: