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| 10
years of IDEAs: Conference
series |
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To
commemorate the completion
of 10 eventful years,
International Development
Economics Associates
(IDEAs) organised a
Conference titled ''Global
Economy in a Time of
Uncertainty: Capitalist
trajectories and progressive
alternatives''
in Muttukadu, Chennai,
during 24-26 January
2012, and a Seminar
titled ''Whither
Global Capitalism''
in the Convention Centre,
Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU), Delhi, during
28-29 January 2012.
This section contains
the contributions by
the participants in
the two events.
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| Re-regulating
Finance |
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Following
the financial crisis,
much has been done for
preventing systemic
failure in the financial
sector, stalling economic
downturn and ensuring
a recovery. However,
the adequacy and appropriateness
of the measures adopted
remain questionable.
As far as reforming
the financial sector
is concerned, despite
a spate of proposals,
agreement on the appropriate
mix of policies and
the progress with implementation
have been limited. This
section presents papers
and articles that analyse
the adequacy of various
proposals and measures,
the challenges that
could arise at the time
of implementation and
advocate additional
or alternative measures.
Some of these papers
also take a renewed
look at the veracity
of the arguments given
for explaining the genesis
of the crisis.
- Using
Minsky to Simplify
Financial Regulation
The basic error in
the current regulatory
approach embodied
in
Dodd-Frank is that
it does very little
to limit the creation
of fictitious liquidity
or to redirect the
creation of that liquidity
for financing capital
development of the
system. A more expeditious
method of reform that
could replace Dodd-Frank
would be to ask if
there were any reason
why
the fictitious-liquidity
structures that have
grown up in the process
of deregulation are
necessary for the
operation of the economy.
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| Provincial
Migration in China: Preliminary insights
from the 2010 population census |
| Andrew
M. Fischer |
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In anticipation
of the forthcoming release of
the 2010 national population census
of China, this paper compares
the limited population data that
have been released so far with
annual data on natural population
increase since the 2000 census
in order to construct a rough
but robust measure of net migration
for each province in China between
these two censuses. The results
emphasise the extent of net
out-migration from much of interior
and western China as well as the
degree to which rapid population
growth in five coastal growth
poles has been due to net in-migration.
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Beyond
the Minsky
Moment |
| Levy
Economics Institute |
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The
recent financial crisis that started
in the US set a typical Minsky Debt
deflation like condition that is
further worsening the situation.
This monograph traces the roots
of the 2008 crisis and attempts,
with the help of Mynsky's work to
suggest a possible solution to the
problem. |
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| Recollecting
Kalecki's Studies of the US Economy |
| Julio
Lopez G |
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Michal Kalecki wrote
an article on Government expenditures
financed by taxes on profits,
which set forth an interesting
debate between him and Keynes,
the latter being the editor of
the Journal in which Kalecki's
article was published. Later,
in 1950s, Michal Kalecki wrote
few empirical studies to substantiate
his theory. Two of these papers
dealt with the US economy, in
which he adopted a novel method
of analysis. However, his methodology
did not have the deserved impact,
even amongst his followers. This
article revisits Kalecki's analysis
to try and understand the recent
evolution of the US economy.
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| Financial
Architectures and Development: Resilience,
policy space, and human development
in the global south |
| Ilene
Grabel |
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In
this paper it is argued that the
current crisis is proving to be
productive of institutional experimentation
in the realm of financial architecture(s)
in the developing world. The author
argues that today there are numerous
opportunities for policy and institutional
experimentation, and there are clear
signs that these opportunities are
being exploited in a variety of
distinct ways. As compared to any
other moment over the last several
decades, there are clear signs of
fissures, realignments and institutional
changes in the structures of financial
governance across the global South. |
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| An
LDCinian Fairy Tale or How to Lose
a Paradise |
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Once upon a time, there was a
lovely little country far, far
away called LDCinia. This story
narrates the journey of the LDCinians
in their quest for prosperity
for all and equitable and sustainable
development.
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| Report
on the State of Food Insecurity in
Urban India |
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This
report is an update of Food Insecurity
Atlas of Urban India that was developed
by the M.S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation (MSSRF) and the World
Food Programme (WFP) in October
2002 and a companion exercise to
the Report on the State of Food
Insecurity in Rural India of 2001. |
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| Beyond
GDP: Measuring our progress |
| Charles
Seaford, Sorcha Mahoney, Mathis Wackernagel,
Joy Larson, Réne Ramírez
Gallegos |
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It is now widely accepted that
one must move beyond viewing GDP
as the critical measure of a nation's
progress and recognise it for
what it is - - a measure of economic
exchange, which is itself a means
to an end; the 'end' being the
achievement of high well-being
for all within environmental limits
('sustainable well-being'). In
this paper, the authors focus
on ways of measuring environmental
sustainability and well-being,
as well as offering a view from
the global South which entails
measures of both of these..
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| Monetary
Union Stability: The need for a government
banker and the case for a European
public finance authority |
| Thomas
I. Palley |
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There
is accumulating evidence that the
euro's current architecture is unstable.
The source of instability is high
interest rates on highly indebted
countries which creates unsustainable
debt burdens. Remedying this problem
requires a central bank that acts
as government banker and pushes
down government bond interest rates
to sustainable levels. That can
be accomplished by the creation
of a European Public Finance Authority
(EPFA) that issues public debt which
the European Central Bank (ECB)
is allowed to trade. |
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Time
to End the
Madness |
| C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
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Irrational
insistence on fiscal conservatism has led to widespread
growth slowdown not only in the European countries,
but also in emerging economies like China and India.
The political backlash in major eurozone economies
rekindles hope that governments embracing growth stunting
fiscal tightening would soon switch back to sound
economic policy-making. |
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| The
Continuing Need for Industrial Policy |
| Jayati
Ghosh |
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The
13th UNCTAD conference held recently in Qatar discussed
industrial policies as the significant yet unsung
force behind the much trumpeted emergence of some
developing economies as major players in the global
stage. Despite liberalisation in the '90s, much of
India's success too lies in the industrial policies
that preceded it. Moreover, India has much to learn
from its counterparts like Brazil on how to utilise
industrial policies even in largely market-driven
economies. |
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| UNCTAD
is Astute and Progressive: So why don't developed countries
like it? |
| Jayati
Ghosh |
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There
is a deliberate attempt
to curb the role and functioning of the UNCTAD by
those who seek to create a single homogenous approach
to economic analysis and policy to be accepted globally,
even if that approach is increasingly being exposed
as misleading and downright wrong. |
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| Affordable
Medicine: A big step forward |
| C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
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The
recent judgement by India's Controller of Patents
granting Compulsory License
to an Indian pharmaceutical company for the production
of
a cancer drug, the patent for which is held by German
pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant Bayer, is not
just historic but path breaking. |
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| Statement
by Former Staff Members of UNCTAD: Silencing the message
or the messenger …. or both? |
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Since
its establishment almost 50 years ago at the instigation
of developing countries, UNCTAD has always been a
thorn in the flesh of economic orthodoxy. Now efforts
are afoot to silence that voice. |
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| Joint
Declaration of Fukushima Symposium Participants |
| JSPE |
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The
Japan Society of Political Economy organised Fukushima
Symposium on the Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster with
three academic associations on 24 and 25 March 2012.
The joint declaration of Fukushima symposium participants
was issued at the end of the event. |
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| Whose
Elections Should We Watch? |
| Jayati
Ghosh |
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Global
attention is focused on the upcoming US elections,
as the US is still the most significant country whose
politics determine much of what happens in the world.
However, the developments in China too warrant special
attention as it too has major consequences in today's
world. |
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Using
the Potential of BRICS Financial
Co-operation |
| Jayati
Ghosh |
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The
emergence of BRICS as a global economic entity offers
a scope for democratising the entire process of South-South
Co-operation that till date has been mainly corporate
led. The commonalities of the challenges faced by
the individual members of BRICS can act as a platform
for developing a more progressive developmental trajectory
for the member countries, and all emerging economies
at large. |
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| Getting
the Priorities Right: The new central bank law in Argentina |
| John
Weeks |
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The
new Central Bank regulations being introduced in Argentina
are a welcome change, as they mark a departure from
global norms witnessed in the recent past. The new
Ley Organica institutionalises the principle that
the function of monetary policy is to select, prioritise
and achieve a range of goals in coordination with
fiscal policy, that includes institutionalising the
ability of the Bank to implement counter-cyclical
policies to prevent further crises. |
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| Post-Crisis
Reform: A lost opportunity? |
C.P.
Chandrasekhar and
Jayati Ghosh |
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In
its recently released annual report, the Federal Reserve
Bank of Dallas makes a case for breaking up banks
considered too big to fail. But the failure to do
that is only one possible way in which the opportunity
provided by the crisis to reform and regulate finance
has been lost. |
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| Mutiny
of the Minority Shareholder |
| C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
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In
what would be a first for India, a minority foreign
investor in a public sector company that had gone
in for privatisation, in this case a hedge fund looking
for capital gains, has challenged the right of the
government to pursue policies it presumes is in the
national interest. |
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