Wade on LDC Industrial Policy Post-Global Crisis

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/30/2010 01:22:00 AM
Robert Wade of the LSE should be very familiar to followers of international political economy. He has long been a champion of heterodox approaches to attaining economic growth, contrary to those espoused by the development mainstream for the longest time. His most famous work remains Governing the Market, in which he explained the case for state involvement in contrast to neoliberal orthodoxies involving liberalization, privatization, and deregulation as self-evident virtues. Until now, it is a standard work for those engaging with this literature. If you're new to this book, well, Google says it has 2,847 cites! Truly, it...
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G20 Protest: Battle in Seattle, Turmoil in Toronto

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/29/2010 10:17:00 AM
In case you missed it, the twin protests of the G8 and G20 summits recently held in Toronto, Canada were rather violent given the relatively quiet anti-globalization protests of the past few years. Even after spending massive sums on ensuring summit security, Toronto or "New York Run by the Swiss" as some of its adherents call it was hit hard:The site of the weekend's Group of 20 leaders' meeting was rocked by some of the most violent protests to hit a global gathering in recent years, despite one of the most lavish security outlays in summit history. Bands of activists ran through the city's downtown Saturday, bashing windows and setting several police cars ablaze, halting public transit and prompting officials to lock down hospitals and a major shopping mall. Police responded with teargas and pepper spray, arresting nearly 600 people over the weekend, in addition to 32 detained before the summit began.The violence had Canadian politicians and police wringing their hands after...
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G20 Who's Who in Stimulus v Austerity Debate

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/29/2010 12:06:00 AM
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labour the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government - Thomas JeffersonThe just-concluded G20 meetings are notable for who lines up where in the global political economy when it comes to stimulus versus austerity, AKA profligacy versus prudence. Unfortunately, we all know where the deficit-loving US government lines up, contrary to the wishes of America's great third president and in harmony with those of its current IOU junkie. However, it is also important to note who lines up where. With the removal of Mr. Golden Rule-Turned Stimulus Junkie Gordon Brown, the UK has moved solidly into the Jeffersonian column.As for the rest, Irwin Stelzer has an interesting article discussing, among other things, who stacks up where:Add to that the failure of these weakened leaders to agree how to fashion a sustainable recovery....
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Michel Foucault, Meet FIFA's No Instant Replay

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/27/2010 07:09:00 PM
When I was a wee lad and didn't know better, I liked watching "pro wrestling" with its wacky, deliberately staged antics. My favourite moment would be when, while the referee wasn't looking, one wrestler would grab a folding chair and slam it into his opponent. When the referee's attention returned to the action after some distraction--a tag team partner arguing with the referee, a player's manager blocking the referee's view, or whatever--the opponent hit with the chair would invariably be flat on his back and pinned for the three count. Ting, ting, ting! An instant "controversial" decision designed to elicit heated discussion...
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Ordo- v Neoliberal: Why Germany Clobbers England

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 6/27/2010 04:38:00 PM
We hoped for the best, but things turned out like they always do - Viktor ChernomyrdinAnd so England's overtattooed players from overindebted teams are going home early, joining their equally underwhelming fellow Anglo-Saxons the Americans after a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Germany. (Heck, the English didn't even play body art poster boy David Beckham due to injury.) Not that this result is of any surprise to me as I've intoned before, but the magnitude of the defeat is especially disheartening for those who thought England would've been less embarrassing.Where does this chronic performance deficit come from? Most visibly,...
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Socially and Environmentally Innovative Wal-Mart?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 6/25/2010 08:15:00 AM
It may be hard to imagine given its share of criticisms regarding labour and environmental practices--think of its carbon footprint by virtue of sheer size--but Walmart in Brazil recently received an award in honour of the recently deceased "Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" pioneer CK Prahalad. So yes, social innovation can occur with large MNCs operating in the developing world. In this context, to help preserve the irreplaceable Amazon rainforests:The Corporate Eco Forum (CEF) today awarded Walmart Brazil and its CEO Hector Nunez the inaugural C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Sustainability Leadership for their historic work to preserve the Amazon. Mr. Nunez will accept the award tonight during the Gala Dinner at the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Corporate Eco Forum. "By taking extraordinary action to protect the Amazon, Walmart Brazil and Hector Nunez have carved out a place in history as both pioneering environmentalists and savvy business strategists," said MR Rangaswami,...
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Will UK Scuttle Iceland's EU Membership Bid?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/24/2010 01:42:00 AM
I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the events surrounding the collapse of Iceland's banking sector during the march of the global financial crisis which I've posted about in some detail before [1, 2, 3]. As the creditworthiness of giant Icelandic banks was called into question, many offshore depositors suffered collateral damage. In order to stem public panic, the governments of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom ponied up money to ensure these depositors got their money back. And, it doesn't really need to be said, collect from Iceland later.However, there is still an ongoing spat over how much and when the Dutch and British would be compensated by the Icelanders. Aside from Iceland having to resort to IMF help, it too believes the Netherlands and the UK aren't considering the burden being placed on Icelandic taxpayers by making compensation due and demandable in short order. Unfortunately for Iceland, you can say that the EU member countries in this story have...
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Harry Potter Theme Park: Why Orlando, Not London?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/23/2010 12:09:00 AM
London Mayor Boris Johnson is known far and wide as a loose cannon who unloads on friends and foes alike with regular abandon. A few days ago, he took aim at American politicians taking turns demonizing BP and hurting British pension funds and pensioners who rely on its stock and dividends, respectively. Given that BP has agreed to set aside £20 billion to cover potential damages, he's turned his attention to that poster boy of continued British influence in pop culture, the 'Harry Potter' franchise.Apparently Orlando, Florida--the theme park capital of the world--has stolen a march on London for it has just opened a Harry...
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Turning Chinese: The Great Firewall of...Australia

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/22/2010 12:49:00 AM
Ah, yes, protecting innocent minds from the evils of the Internet. China famously employs an alleged 30,000 censors to stop all sorts of filth from contaminating the minds of the people. Apparently, these sorts of measures are no longer just fashionable with authoritarian regimes, but even in the outback as Australia gears up for (ostensibly) controlling child pornography and other forms of degeneracy. In the Aussie case, the digital czar is one Stephen Conroy. From TIME:The concept of government-backed web censorship is usually associated with nations where human rights and freedom of speech are routinely curtailed. But if Canberra's plans for a mandatory Internet filter go ahead, Australia may soon become the first Western democracy to join the ranks of Iran, China and a handful of other nations where access to the Internet is restricted by the state.Plans for a mandatory Internet filter have been a long-term subject of controversy since they were first announced by Stephen...
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Mighty RMB! Nearly Hits +0.5% Limit on Monday

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/21/2010 01:05:00 PM
Following up on a prior post, there isn't much to explain here other than say that the Chinese monetary authorities seem to have lived up to their word in not interfering with the upward momentum of the yuan. At the close of Monday's trading, it nearly hit the limit of the plus or minus 0.5% band (on the upside, obviously). While not interfering with trading, the daily fixing for Tuesday is set to be made at the mid-point of trading, not the limit, to delay the upward climb somewhat:China's yuan soared on Monday to its highest against the dollar since the landmark 2005 revaluation, with the central bank stepping aside and tolerating broad gains on the first trading day since scrapping the currency's two-year peg to the dollar. The central bank declined to intervene for the of the few times in the yuan's modern history and appeared to want the market to drive intraday trade, backing up its weekend pledge to allow greater flexibility.Traders said it was unlikely the yuan would...
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Al Jazeera's Genius of Western-Hating Commerce

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/21/2010 12:09:00 AM
In the Eighties (for those old enough to remember them), Eddie Murphy came out with a novelty song called "Kill the White People" that parodied those ostensibly decrying all things Western while harbouring essentially commercial motives:We sing of freedom and ooh equalityBut we really don't care we just want money, money, moneyWe want to drive in a big black limousineGet so high off ganja we can't even seeAnd then we kill the white people - ooh we gunna make them hurtKill the white people, yeah, ooh but buy my record first...Which brings me to this interesting feature from The Economist on the rather nefarious cable channel...
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Roubini: Bah Humbug on Refloating the Yuan

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/19/2010 10:09:00 PM
Much has been made of the announcement on the People's Bank of China website that it would "enhance the RMB exchange rate flexibility." Since July of 2008, the renminbi has been pegged at 6.83 to the dollar. However, the PBoC is now indicating that the time is right for moving away from this peg. Here are the key parts of the text:In view of the recent economic situation and financial market developments at home and abroad, and the balance of payments (BOP) situation in China, the People´s Bank of China has decided to proceed further with reform of the RMB exchange rate regime and to enhance the RMB exchange rate flexibility...The global economy is gradually recovering. The recovery and upturn of the Chinese economy has become more solid with the enhanced economic stability. It is desirable to proceed further with reform of the RMB exchange rate regime and increase the RMB exchange rate flexibility.In further proceeding with reform of the RMB exchange rate regime, continued emphasis...
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PIIGS Will Fly: Meet Japanese Fiscal Prudence

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/18/2010 12:03:00 AM
It seems everyone except the United States is getting that old religion on fiscal prudence. True, the rather useless and non-binding US fiscal commission targets a primary budget balance by 2015 (meaning that revenues at least equal expenditures prior to interest payments), but Japan's effort is ever-so-slightly more credible in that their new PM Naoto Kan is leading the charge.With Japan's total public debt amounting to about 200% of GDP, you have to wonder if these changes will be immediate enough to pacify markets about the fiscal state of Land of the Rising Sun. From Reuters:Japan will set a goal of bringing its primary budget balance into the black within a decade in a fiscal reform strategy to be unveiled this month, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, as part of efforts to rein its huge public debt. Kan, who took up his post after his unpopular predecessor quit abruptly this month, also repeated his pledge to keep fresh government bond issuance at or below this fiscal year's...
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German Football as Proof That Migration Works

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 6/17/2010 12:08:00 AM
I naturally pull for Asian and African sides during this or any other World Cup given that neither continent has produced a championship squad (yet). All the same, even traditional powerhouses are of interest in that migration has produced a melting pot as of late. Think of the French title-winning 1998 squad or that which made it to the 2006 finals.To be honest, the 2010 World Cup has produced a number of snoozers. Indeed, it was expected that Germany would send a team others could beat up at long last given its history of consistently performing squads. That Ghana's Kevin-Prince Boateng took out longtime German captain Michael...
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Paul Martin Can Teach Economically Illiterate USA

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/16/2010 12:09:00 AM
And now back to our regular programme of commentary on the godforsaken fiscal haemorrhage known as the United States of America. Not so long ago, Canada was the goat of the G7, with a massive fiscal deficit hovering around 8% of GDP. What happened? Fortunately, the story in Canada was a good one as the fiscally conservative but socially liberal Paul Martin went about his business making large cuts. But, unlike the British who are not exceedingly suave at explaining the needs for cuts to the public or the Americans who deny the need to do so--he's not called Tim "Deficits Still Don't Matter" Geithner for nothing--Paul Martin...
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N Korea @ World Cup: Why Pirated Tape Delay?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/16/2010 12:08:00 AM
Well I'll be damned: contrary to almost everyone's expectations, North Korea fought toe to toe with mighty Brazil in their World Cup fixture. Up to the 55th minute, a stingy North Korean defence (OK, so they often kept five back, but I'd have done the same against Brazil) held things to nil-nil. Eventually, however, the laudable North Koreans tired somewhat and the genius of Brazilian football shone through. Still, Ji Yun-nam pulled one back with a brilliant goal near the match's end, reflecting the high-spirited play of North Korea.It's a pity that the folks at home will have to make do with watching North Korea's valiant effort only a day after the rest of the world did. You see, South Korea holds the rights to broadcast this event in the Korean peninsula. What's more, the rather cash-strapped DPRK hasn't negotiated the rights to show World Cup matches in the Communist state. Additionally, the suspected torpedoing of a South Korean vessel by the North Koreans hasn't exactly...
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'Go North Korea!' Chant Chinese Fans in S Africa

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/15/2010 12:44:00 AM
[UPDATE: Post match, see my newer post on how North Korea is likely pirating South Korea's World Cup video feed.]I suppose this phenomenon is very much in line with the concept of bloc voting in the Eurovision Song Contest: Since competition judges cannot vote for their home countries, it has been observed (even by academic research) that national affinities matter in Eurovision voting. For instance, former Soviet satellite countries vote for each other, while Greek Cypriots thumb their noses at the Turkish entry but vote for their erstwhile compatriots.To set the scene, tomorrow is going to mark the first appearance of perennial...
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Celeb Enviro-Activist James Cameron Defends BP

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/15/2010 12:04:00 AM
Given that he is Hollywood's most bankable director--or among the top 3 at least--Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron certainly isn't an unknown quantity. As the former film would suggest, he is very much in the conflicted movie star mold: he makes a living selling commercially successful titles while deploring the surrounding commercial infrastructure that enables his very success. Certainly, he is no Charlton Heston--an actor with strong conservative conservative leanings.However, one of the surprising things you may want to know about him is that, despite his left-of-centre and environmental stylings, Cameron does feel regret about the plight of poor old BP. Here is a guy who, in a Bono-esque frame of mind, is protesting the proposed construction of the Belo Monte megadam in Brazil. (If constructed, it would be the third largest dam in the world in terms of output.) A few days ago, I cam across an interesting interview of him with the Wall Street Journal's technology...
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