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Inflation Targeting: Issues and
Alternatives

This is a set of papers which covers theoretical and empirical research on the issue of inflation targeting. The papers specifically cover various outcomes of inflation targeting as well the controversies, exploring alternative approaches, methodologies and solutions. While the impact on employment remains a primary concern of the papers, other specific issues which have been covered are; employment costs of inflation reduction in developing countries from a gender perspective, looking at the nature of inflation targeting from a class based social perspective, a comparison of inflation targeting and real exchange rate targeting in affecting economic growth and employment. In addition, country specific studies on the impact of inflation targeting and alternatives in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, India, Vietnam, and Philippines are included.

Conference on “A Decade After: Recovery and Adjustment since the East Asian Crisis” organised by the International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs), Global Sustainability and Environment Institute (GSEI), Action Aid and Focus on the Global South, July 12-14, 2007, Bangkok
Thailand

This IDEAs conference was held to mark the completion of a decade since the onset of the financial crises of 1997 in several East Asian Countries. The crisis, whose effects are still visible, focused attention on the dangers associated with a world dominated by fluid finance. This particular conference was concerned with delineating the alternative trajectories of post-crisis development in different economies, the lessons they offer and their implications they have for alternative policies.

   
International Conference on 'Policy Perspectives on Growth, Economic Structures and Poverty Reduction' held in Beijing, China, 7-9 June, 2007

The theme of IDEAs' Beijing Conference 2007 is particularly relevant as the recent decades have thrown up interesting dilemmas for the developing world in terms of experiencing economic growth coupled with increases in income inequality and inadequate reduction of poverty. The conference therefore focussed on the extent and nature of growth in developing economies, particularly in Asia. It explored the extent to which the growth process has been related to shifts in underlying economic structures with adverse impacts on poverty and inequality, or to policy paradigms, both domestic and external, which have created these contradictions within the growing developing world. The impact on livelihood and employment patterns, sectoral shifts in investment, production, and incomes, the impact on human development and gender are all sought to be studied in detail.

IDEAs International Conference in Memory of Guy Mhone on 'Sustainable Employment Generation in Developing Countries: Current Constraints and Alternative Strategies', Nairobi, Kenya,
25 - 27 January, 2007
.

IDEAs international conference titled 'Sustainable Employment Generation in Developing Countries: Current Constraints and Alternative Strategies' in Memory of Guy Mhone was held in Nairobi, Kenya in association with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi and Action Aid during 25-27 January, 2007. The conference focussed on the issue of productive employment generation in developing countries in the given context of trade liberalisation and more constrained state spending in crucial areas, both of which have been associated with greater economic concentration and slow growth of productive employment and income opportunities.

   
China: A Study in Contrasts

China has always appeared to the rest of the world as an amazing mix of contrasts. Two papers on China show the interesting contradictions that China poses in this global phase of liberalisation, both within itself and in comparison to the outside world. Both papers highlight how China's development in this era has presented a deviation from the general global direction of market reform in the institutional dimension. The Chinese case has shown an interesting mix of industrial institutions within China, which has accounted for simultaneous improvements in both allocative and productive efficiency. FDI, on the other hand, has promoted economic development in one respect by improving allocative efficiency, but has had unfavourable impact in another respect by worsening productive efficiency.Therefore, in contrast to general notions of FDI, China has experienced an overall impact that tends to be on the negative side.

International Conference on 'Economic Openness and Income Inequality: Policy Options for Developing Countries in the New Millennium', Shanghai,
China, 26- 27th August, 2006.
An international conference on 'Economic Openness and Income Inequality: Policy Options for Developing Countries in the New Millennium' was held in Shanghai, China during the 26th-27th of August, 2006 in local collaboration with the Shanghai Administration Institute (SAI). There are three related issues of relevance which the conference sought to address: (i) the relationship between the increasingly homogenous patterns of growth across countries and the adoption of policies that emphasize economic openness and the primacy of markets; (ii) the relationship between this pattern of growth and distributive outcomes; and (iii) the trends in inequality and relative deprivation in recent years both globally and within countries. Beginning by looking at global trends from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective through 5 papers presented during the first two sessions, the conference followed up with region specific sessions on the issue of income inequality and trade liberalization.
   
The 2nd Workshop on 'ASEAN Expert Collaboration for FTA Negotiations with the United States', Bangkok, Thailand, 3-4 August, 2006.
IDEAs, in collaboration with the Good Governance for Social Development and the Environmental Institute (GSEI), Thailand Research Fund (TRF), the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok and the WWF, organised the 2nd  Workshop on 'ASEAN Expert Collaboration for FTA Negotiations with the United States', at Bangkok during 3-4 August, 2006. The workshop was the second in a series held against the backdrop of Thailand's proposed bilateral FTA with the US. The brainstorming sessions sought to throw light on various issues of dominating concern in the standard US FTA model. There was also a public forum ''Lessons Learned from US FTAs: Can We Create Fair and Responsible Trade?'' specifically meant to draw lessons from existing US FTAs, as well as to challenge the promise of market access gains to Thailand under the bilateral FTA. This section features the papers presented at the public forum.
IDEAs Conference on 'Post Liberalisation Constraints on Macroeconomic policies', January 27- 29, 2006, Muttukadu,
Tamil Nadu, India.
IDEAs conference, the third of a series at Muttukadu, Chennai, featured a set of papers and open discussions on the impact of international trade and financial liberalization on macroeconomic policies at country levels, with special emphasis on the developing world. The conference was primarily concerned with how a selected set of industrialising countries have negotiated their relationship with the global economy given sweeping changes in the international context, and how these policy changes in turn affected the possibilities and potential for development for the world at large and developing countries in particular. This section features the papers that were presented at the conference.
   
IDEAs' workshop on 'Financial Crime and Fragility under Financial Globalisation', India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India, December 19 - 20th, 2005.
IDEAs' workshop on 'Financial Crime and Fragility under Financial Globalisation', India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India, December 19 - 20th, 2005 featured a set of papers and a panel discussion on the increased susceptibility of the system to endemic financial frauds and manipulation of regulatory frameworks in wake of changes sweeping the global financial markets with a rise in financial liberalization. The workshop was hence geared towards examining whether financial crimes of varying intensity are the rule rather than the exception and whether, institutionally speaking, the currently dominant "ideal" financial structure and the regulatory forbearance it incorporates is inherently fragile and prone to systemic failure.
An Alternate Approach to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals
Sanjay Reddy and Antoine Heuty
We present here two papers which argue that the existing models underlying the strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are deficient and flawed on a number of counts. The authors, Sanjay Reddy and Antoine Heuty, propose an alternate approach to achieving the MDGs through a process of periodic peer and partner review. According to the authors, the process of peer and partner review will enable each country to learn from its own experience and that of other countries and thereby increases the likelihood of success.
   
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Economics Associates 2008
 

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