Suchergebnisse

Noting that a major purpose of multilateral institutions is to deliver international public goods, this paper applies the theory and practice of public economics, as well as papers in this section, to the potential and challenges facing these institutions. First, I show that deviations from the standard model of fiscal decentralization are reflected in the experience of multilateral institutions. Next, I consider the case of one of the largest of such institutions, the World Bank, and show how the nature of the international public good it was originally designed to produce—the pooling of investment risk in developing countries—has changed to those of climate change, peace, and knowledge. I suggest that, in order to deliver on this new set of public goods, the World Bank needs to change the way it is organized—away from the country-based model to regional and subnational groupings—and shift its strategy to one where knowledge leads lending rather than the other way around.

The Middle East and North Africa region is in turmoil. Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen are in civil war, causing untold damage to human lives and physical infrastructure. Fifteen million people have fled their homes, many to fragile or economically strapped countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Djibouti and Tunisia, giving rise to the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Palestinians are reeling from deadly attacks and blockades. With recruits from all over the world, radicalized terrorist groups and sectarian factions like Daesh are spreading violence around the globe, threatening some governments' ability to perform basic functions. Countries undergoing political transitions, such as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan, face periodic attacks and political unrest, leading them to address security concerns over inclusive growth. Even relatively peaceful oil exporters, such as Algeria, Iran and the GCC, are grappling with youth unemployment and poor-quality public services, the same problems that contributed to the Arab Spring, alongside low oil prices. Finally, the author will develop and monitor input indicators that are consistent with the theory of change associated with the new strategy. We will have indicators that show whether our interventions are helping to renew the social contract (the use of citizen engagement in projects is an example). Household surveys can tell us whether the welfare of refugees and host communities is improving. Preparedness indicators can be used to inform progress on the recovery and reconstruction pillar. And standard indicators such as the share of electricity production that is traded will be used for the regional integration pillar.

In 2011, when the organizers of the International Economics Association decided to hold their 2014 World Congress in Jordan, they did not anticipate that the Middle East would be the center of one of the most important economic, political and social transitions of our time. The Arab Spring caught much of the world by surprise. Its aftermath has led to political unrest, violent conflict and deteriorating economic performance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The organizers therefore asked Ishac Diwan and Ahmed Galal, two leading economists and experts on the region, to put together an edited volume from the papers at the World Congress relevant to the transition in the Middle East. This volume collects some of those papers, as well as a few others, to explain the factors that led to the Arab Spring and to anticipate some of its consequences. It provides a multidisciplinary "snapshot" of research on the transitions in MENA.

Shantayanan Devarajan Gabonve a lunch talk at a recent conference of civil society and technology people orGabonnized by the Tech@State folks at the U.S. State Department.

The application of computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to questions of natural resources & taxation in developing countries are surveyed, focusing on: (1) energy management models that highlight the role of natural resources as inputs into the production process; (2) "Dutch disease" models that capture the effects of the windfall that accrues to exporters when the price of oil rises; & (3) optimal depletion models that take into account the exhaustibility of the resource & the link between optimal extraction & investment decisions. The application of CGE models to taxation can be divided into: positive analyses, which shed light on the link between fiscal & trade policies & the impact of a tax change on prices & incomes; & normative analyses, which compute "optimal" taxes in revenue-constrained economies. These are found to be at variance with proposals for tax reform that are based on rules-of-thumb. 2 Tables, 5 Figures, 26 References. Modified HA