Emerging Market Channel: Latest Posts
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The Kapali Carsi
What will the Central Bank of Turkey do at Tuesday’s rate-setting meeting?
Despite a lot of push from a world-renowned ornithologist friend, I never took up bird-watching. It seemed way too difficult to wait for hours to catch a glimpse of a small unidentified flying object and try to identify it. I was in Ankara on March 15 to, among other things, give a guest lecture at [...]
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Asia
South Asia and the Geography of Poverty
The world has become relatively less poor in the last few decades. People under conditions of extreme poverty—that is, living on less than $1.25 per day—has declined as a proportion of the world population, from 52 percent in 1981 to 22 percent in 2008. Thirty years ago almost 75 percent of the developing world lived [...]
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Emerging Markets
Brazil’s Imprudence and Bad Economics
Brazil gave up structural microeconomic reforms and is progressively letting the macroeconomic policy deteriorate, thereby jeopardizing economic growth. The Workers’ Party (PT) has governed Brazil for one decade. Such political continuity has not been reproduced in economic policy. During the crisis of 2002, in order to warrant minimal governability conditions, President Lula was forced to [...]
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Emerging Markets
Gender Equality Pays Off in Brazil
Brazil’s success in reducing poverty and income inequality has been widely reported in recent years. What is less known is that there has also been progress in lessening gender inequality in the past two decades. Illiteracy rates for women 15 years old and above came down from 20.3 percent in 1991 to 9.8 percent in [...]
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Policies of Scale: Efficient Global Policy
Making Sense of the Middle East’s New Dynamics
Since the beginning of the Arab Awakening in 2011, the debate over US policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has intensified. Arguments for deeper involvement in the region have proliferated with many suggesting it is primed for US leadership as it tries to steer itself towards greater dignity and freedom. Given the [...]
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Emerging Markets
Telecom Reform in Mexico: Current State and Issues to Address
Legislators from the three major parties—PRI, PAN and PRD—are working on the final details of a telecommunications reform bill that will be introduced as early as next week in the Lower House. The bill is poised to be the central legislative issue of the spring congressional session. Given the large vested interests at stake, legislators [...]
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Emerging Markets
Monetary Policy, BRICs and Why Gauging Investors’ Market Forecasts Is Futile, But Fun
Gauging the opinions of investors can be an appealing, if ineffectual practice. Posing straightforward questions to consumers about how they find current employment opportunities or asking manufacturing firms about supplier deliveries can provide a reasonable guide to economic conditions. But surveying groups of investors for their market forecasts will typically result in answers that are [...]
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Efraim Chalamish's Economic Development and Security Blog
Israeli Elections and Foreign Investors
While recent elections in Israel have led to Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection, there are many uncertainties around the profile of his new coalition and its impact on foreign and economic policies. A lot has been said about Israel’s vote to reenergize the peace process with the Palestinians and the need to adopt social and economic policies [...]
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Emerging Markets
Mexico’s Tax Reform in the Works: Preview and Initial Considerations
After early speculation that President Peña Nieto would unveil his much anticipated tax reform during the 2013 spring congressional session (February 1st – April 30th), Finance Minister Luis Videgaray recently confirmed that the comprehensive tax and expenditure package would not be unveiled until the second half of this year. According to Videgaray and other PRI [...]
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Don't Shoot the Messenger
Hungary’s Matolcsy Joins Japan’s Abe In Practicing The Ancient Art Of Verbal Intervention
It’s amazing what you can achieve these days just by promising to do something. It’s also fascinating to watch just what a storm you can stir up. Last July Mario Draghi surprised markets when he vowed to do anything – whatever it would take – to save the Euro. He didn’t go into details, he [...]
