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Developed and developing world responsibilities for historical climate change and CO2 mitigation
Developed and developing world responsibilities for historical climate change and CO2 mitigation
At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Cancun, in November 2010, the Heads of State reached an agreement on the aim of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 °C relative to preindustrial levels. They recognized that long-term future warming is primarily constrained by cumulative anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, that deep cuts in global emissions are required, and that action based on equity must be taken to meet this objective. However, negotiations on emission reduction among countries are increasingly fraught with difficulty, partly because of arguments about the responsibility for the ongoing temperature rise. Simulations with two earth-system models (NCAR/CESM and BNU-ESM) demonstrate that developed countries had contributed about 60–80%, developing countries about 20–40%, to the global temperature rise, upper ocean warming, and sea-ice reduction by 2005. Enacting pledges made at Cancun with continuation to 2100 leads to a reduction in global temperature rise relative to business as usual with a 1/3–2/3 (CESM 33–67%, BNU-ESM 35–65%) contribution from developed and developing countries, respectively. To prevent a temperature rise by 2 °C or more in 2100, it is necessary to fill the gap with more ambitious mitigation efforts.
Urban America: US cities in the global economy
Urban America: US cities in the global economy
Source: McKinsey Global Institute
In a world of rising urbanization, the degree of economic vigor that the economy of the United States derives from its cities is unmatched by any other region of the globe. Large US cities, defined here as those with 150,000 or more inhabitants, generated almost 85 percent of the country’s GDP in 2010, compared with 78 percent for large cities in China and just under 65 percent for those in Western Europe during the same period. In the next 15 years, the 259 large US cities are expected to generate more than 10 percent of global GDP growth—a share bigger than that of all such cities in other developed countries combined.
The overwhelming role that cities play as home to the vast majority of Americans but also as a dominant driver of US and global economic growth argues for a keen focus on their prospects. MGI sheds new light on the role cities play in the US economy and gauges how large they loom in the urban world overall.
CRS — Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival
Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)
The health of the U.S. manufacturing sector is of intense interest to Congress. Numerous bills aimed at promoting manufacturing have been introduced in Congress, often with the stated goal of creating jobs. Implicit in many of these bills is the assumption that the manufacturing sector is uniquely able to provide well-paid employment for workers who have not pursued advanced education.
U.S. manufacturing output has risen significantly over the past two years as the economy has recovered from recession. This upswing in manufacturing activity, however, has resulted in negligible employment growth. Although a variety of forces seem likely to support further growth in domestic manufacturing output over the next few years, including higher labor costs in the emerging economies of Asia, higher international freight transportation costs, and increased concern about disruptions to transoceanic supply chains, evidence suggests that such a resurgence would lead to relatively small job gains within the manufacturing sector. For more on supplychain risk, see CRS Report R40167, Globalized Supply Chains and U.S. Policy, by Dick K. Nanto, and CRS Report R41831, The Motor Vehicle Supply Chain: Effects of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami, by Bill Canis.
The past few years have seen important changes in the nature of manufacturing work. A steadily smaller proportion of manufacturing workers is involved in physical production processes, while larger shares are engaged in managerial and professional work. These changes are reflected in increasing skill requirements for manufacturing workers and severely diminished opportunities for workers without education beyond high school. Even if increased manufacturing output leads to additional employment in the manufacturing sector, it is likely to generate little of the routine production work historically performed by workers with low education levels.
As manufacturing processes have changed, factories with large numbers of workers have become much less common than they once were. This suggests that promotion of manufacturing as a tool to stimulate local economies is likely to meet with limited success; even if newly established factories prosper, few are likely to require large amounts of labor.
Spotlight on Statistics: Fashion
Spotlight on Statistics: Fashion
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Throughout history, fashion has greatly influenced the “fabric” of societies all over the world. What people wear often characterizes who they are and what they do for a living. As Mark Twain once wrote, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
The fashion industry is a global industry, where fashion designers, manufacturers, merchandisers, and retailers from all over the world collaborate to design, manufacture, and sell clothing, shoes, and accessories. The industry is characterized by short product life cycles, erratic consumer demand, an abundance of product variety, and complex supply chains.
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the fashion industry’s supply chain—including import and producer prices, employment in the apparel manufacturing and fashion-related wholesale and retail trade industries, labor productivity in the manufacturing sector and in selected textile and apparel industries, and consumer prices and expenditures on apparel-related items.
Reshoring of Some Chinese Manufacturing Jobs Becoming Likely As Cost Gap is Expected to Shrink to Just 16 Percent Next Year
The tide has begun to turn on the flow of manufacturing jobs from the U.S. to China and other low-cost countries, according to a new study from The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT). Some companies are already reshoring a portion of their manufacturing capacity, and this trend is expected to reach a crucial tipping point over the next two to three years, as the total landed cost gap between the two nations continues to shrink, driven in part by rising wage inflation in China and continued productivity improvements in the U.S.At the moment, China remains a manufacturing powerhouse, with nearly 75 percent of the companies surveyed having some manufacturing capability in China for at least three years, either directly or through contract manufacturers. The Hackett Group estimates that Chinese manufactured exports to the U.S. currently support between 15 and 20 million jobs in China.The Hackett Group’s study offered significant hope for the U.S. jobs market. The study found that companies are exploring reshoring as an option for nearly 20 percent of their offshore manufacturing capacity between 2012 and 2014. This repatriated capacity could roughly offset the jobs that will otherwise move offshore, indicating that the great migration of manufacturing offshore over the past several decades is stabilizing.
CRS — Outsourcing and Insourcing Jobs in the U.S. Economy: Evidence Based on Foreign Investment Data
Outsourcing and Insourcing Jobs in the U.S. Economy: Evidence Based on Foreign Investment Data (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)
The impact of foreign direct investment on U.S. employment is provoking a national debate. While local communities compete with one another for investment projects, many of the residents of those communities fear losing their jobs as U.S. companies seek out foreign locations and foreign workers to perform work that traditionally has been done in the United States, generally referred to as outsourcing. Some observers suggest that current U.S. experiences with outsourcing are different from those that have preceded them and that this merits legislative actions by Congress to blunt the economic impact of these activities. Other observers argue that investing abroad by U.S. multinational companies impedes the growth of new jobs in the economy and thwarts the nation’s investments in high technology sectors. Some opponents also argue that midcareer workers who lose good-paying manufacturing and service-sector jobs likely will never recover their standard of living.
Economists and others generally argue that free and unimpeded international flows of capital have a positive impact on both domestic and foreign economies. Direct investment is unique among international capital flows because it adds permanently to the capital stock and skill set of a nation, but it also challenges the general theory of capital flows because of the presence of strong cross-border and intra-industry investment. Supporters contend that to the extent that foreign investment shifts jobs abroad, it is a minor component of the overall economic picture and that it is offset somewhat by the investment of foreign firms in the U.S. economy (referred to as insourcing), which supports existing jobs and creates new jobs in the economy.
Broad, comprehensive data on U.S. multinational companies generally lag behind current events by two years and were not developed to address the issue of jobs outsourcing. Many economists argue, however, that there is little evidence to date to support the notion that the overseas investment activities of U.S. multinational companies play a significant role in the rate at which jobs are created in the U.S. economy. Instead, they argue that the source of job creation in the economy is rooted in the combination of macroeconomic policies the nation has chosen, the rate of productivity growth, and the availability of resources. This report addresses these issues by analyzing the extent of direct investment into and out of the economy, the role such investment plays in U.S. trade, jobs, and production, and the relationship between direct investment and the broader economic changes that are occurring in the U.S. economy.
The Economics of Offshoring
This paper examines the various economic issues on offshoring (international outsourcing). It begins with a discussion of the factors that determine a firm’s decision to offshore and illustrates, with simple models, the cost saving of offshoring certain stages of production and the advantages of specializing in some input production and engaging in other input trade. The paper then examines the recent trend in offshoring with emphasis on the rise of IT offshoring and also the characteristics of firms in relation to offshoring and exporting. The effect of offshoring and national welfare is then discussed in light of numerous results in recent empirical studies. After examining the current U.S. programs to help the displaced workers, the paper concludes with the various short-run and long-run policy proposals to solve the growing public concern and vexation on offshoring.
Human Capital Trends 2012 – Leap Ahead
Human Capital Trends 2012 – Leap Ahead
Source: Deloitte
It’s fitting that 2012 is a leap year, since a number of converging market trends are driving HR organizations to make significant leaps in capabilities and performance. HR faces a critical, dual imperative in 2012 — a focus on enabling both their organization’s overall growth agenda and on driving efficiency in the business of HR. This dual focus demands decisive action as the stakes are greater than ever.
The top eight human capital trends outlined in the report include:
- In 2012 growth is job #1
- Operation globalization
- Fast-track to the top
- People risk is risky business
- Seeing around corners
- #social #mobile @work
- Clouds in the forecast
- Stay in front with an effective sales force
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CRS — International Trade: Rules of Origin
International Trade: Rules of Origin (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via U.S. Department of State Foreign Press Center)
Determining the country of origin of a product is important for properly assessing tariffs, enforcing trade remedies (such as antidumping and countervailing duties) or quantitative restrictions (tariff quotas), and statistical purposes. Other commercial trade policies are also linked with origin determinations, such as country of origin labeling and government procurement regulations.
Rules of origin (ROO) can be very simple, noncontroversial tools of international trade as long as all of the parts of a product are manufactured and assembled primarily in one country. However, when a finished product’s component parts originate in many countries—as is often the case in today’s global trading environment—determining origin can be a very complex, sometimes subjective, and time-consuming process.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the agency responsible for determining country of origin using various ROO schemes. Non-preferential rules of origin are used to determine the origin of goods imported from countries with which the United States has most-favored-nation (MFN) status. Preferential rules are used to determine the eligibility of imported goods from certain U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) partners and certain developing country beneficiaries to receive duty-free or reduced tariff benefits under bilateral or regional FTAs and trade preference programs. Preferential rules of origin are generally specific to each FTA, or preference, meaning that they vary from agreement to agreement and preference to preference.
CBP has periodically proposed implementing a more uniform system of ROO as an alternative to the “substantial transformation” rule that is currently in place. CBP’s last proposal was on July 25, 2008, when it suggested that a system known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules system “has proven to be more objective and transparent and provide greater predictability in determining the country of origin of imported merchandise than the system of case-by-case adjudication they would replace.” The NAFTA scheme that would be applied hasd already been used for several years to determine the origin of imports under the NAFTA, and for most textile and apparel imports (about 40% of U.S. imports). The CBP proposed to apply the NAFTA rules to all country of origin determinations made by CBP, unless otherwise specified (e.g., unless the import enters under a preferential ROO scheme already in place). The proposed rule changes received so many responses from the public that the deadline for public comment was extended twice, until December 1, 2008. Such changes in rules of origin requirements are often opposed by some importers due to costs involved in transitioning to new rules, or because they believe that certain products they import might be at a disadvantage under a new ROO methodology. According to CBP officials, CBP decided not to implement the proposed rule.
This report deals with ROO in three parts. First, we describe in more detail the reasons that country of origin rules are important and briefly describe U.S. laws and methods that provide direction in making these determinations. Second, we discuss briefly some of the more controversial issues involving rules of origin, including the apparently subjective nature of some CBP origin determinations, and the effects of the global manufacturing process on ROO. Third, we conclude with some alternatives and options that Congress could consider that might assist in simplifying the process.
Transformative Times: New Opportunities for Business in an Era of Upheaval
Transformative Times: New Opportunities for Business in an Era of Upheaval
Source: Knowledge@Wharton
In the 20 articles that make up this special report, students from the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies explore the many ways that the business community has responded to changes in our global economy. They look at individual companies and industry trends, and analyze how startups as well as established firms are taking advantage of transformative events around the world.
Oil & Gas Reality Check 2012
Oil & Gas Reality Check 2012
Source: Deloitte
2011 gave us all reasons to pause and think. From political uprising, unstable financial markets and the Japanese nuclear disaster, to the abundance of natural gas, rethinking of the nuclear emergence, and the rise of the consuming national oil companies (NOCs), 2011 was full of surprises. The speed of which the past year’s events unfolded and the impact they had could hardly be predicted nor mitigated. The uprising in Libya and the renewed production in Iraq did little to stabilize the world oil markets. The sudden loss of supply from North Africa may have caused Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices to diverge even more than they would have based on North American inventories only. Despite economic uncertainty, global oil prices remained stubbornly buoyant and are expected to remain so in the upcoming year, according to both the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).
This report is not a predictive statement of the future of what the oil and gas sector will experience. It is, however, a story of the important and unfolding trends that may influence our way forward in the year ahead. As 2011 taught us, predictions are bound to be wrong unless luck is on our side. In this document we explore the trends created by the events of the passing year and the impact they may have in the upcoming year. Amongst these are the conventional and unconventional natural gas revolution, the ultra-deep exploration, the globalization of the consuming NOCs, and the economic realities that a growing array of energy independent countries will face.
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The Top 10 Migration Issues of 2011
The Top 10 Migration Issues of 2011
Source: Migration Policy Institute
| 1. | Arab Spring and Fear of Migrant Surge Expose Rift in EU Immigration Policy Circles- The Arab Spring exposed critical weaknesses and exacerbated long-held disagreements within the European Union related to asylum, immigration, and external border control policy matters that spilled over into the operation of the Schengen area. |
| 2. | Economic Malaise Makes Immigrants a Target for Restrictive Legislation, Public Backlash - With unemployment rates remaining persistently high in the wake of the global economic crisis, ongoing turbulence in financial markets, and new austerity in public spending, anxious publics and governments trained their attention on immigration and immigrants during 2011. |
| 3. | Immigration in United States and Parts of Europe Gives Way to Increased Emigration - Immigration flows this year continued to respond sharply to the economic climate in major immigrant-receiving nations, as many struggled to gain a labor market foothold in the aftermath of the global economic meltdown. |
| 4. | Highly Skilled Migrants Seek New Destinations as Global Growth Shifts to Emerging Economies - Developing nations that were once primarily migrant-sending states are now experiencing a boom that is beginning to increase their attractiveness for highly educated and highly skilled migrants and beckoning their diaspora members home. |
| 5. | Substantial Investments to Court Diaspora Entrepreneurs for Development Gains - With the goal of building and sustaining economic growth in mind, some countries have intensified their efforts to court investments from their nationals and co-ethnics abroad, recognizing that diaspora entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to spot opportunities in their countries of origin and capitalize on them. |
| 6. | Heading into the 2012 Elections, Republican Presidential Candidates Walk the Immigration Policy Tightrope - The debate season is well underway for the Republican presidential primary races in the United States, and immigration has once again emerged as a highly contentious policy issue. |
| 7. | Immigrant Detention under Scrutiny in Australia, United Kingdom, and United States - Public backlash against the detention systems of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States mounted in 2011with allegations of unacceptable living conditions, abuse, prolonged detention, and government waste. |
| 8. | The Arab Spring and Other Crises in Africa Displace More Than 1 Million People - The succession of displacement and refugee crises in the Arab Spring, Côte d’Ivoire, Somalia, and Sudan has been characterized as the most troubling in some time. |
| 9. | A Decade after 9/11, Enforcement Focus Prevails in the United States; Broader Immigration Reforms Remain Stalled - As the United States paused in September to mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the enforcement paradigm that took hold immediately after the terrorist attacks showed no signs of waning. |
| 10. | Caught between Two Migration Realities, Mexico Passes New Immigration Legislation - In April 2011, the Mexican Congress unanimously approved an ambitious new migration law that sets out to address longstanding problems related to the immigration and transmigration of Central Americans and the emigration and return migration of Mexicans. |
Current Price Topics: Measuring U.S. Inflation Using European Methods
Current Price Topics: Measuring U.S. Inflation Using European Methods
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Common international standards for producing economic statistics—such as the measures of inflation—are important for the increasingly integrated world economy. This is particularly true for the 27 countries[1] of the European Union (EU) whose economies now are a single market, and it is even more critical for the 17 EU countries[2] of the Eurozone that replaced their own monetary units with the euro. Consequently, the EU requires each member country and prospective member country to produce standardized (harmonized in euro-speak) economic statistics. The EU’s statistical agency, Eurostat, develops the standards in consultation with the statistical agencies of the EU member states.
The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP)[3] is Eurostat’s standard consumer price index. Eurostat chose this name to distinguish the HICP from the old consumer price indexes; many European statistical offices continue to produce their countries’ traditional CPIs for historical continuity and for internal purposes, such as adjusting pensions. These statistical offices now also produce HICPs for their respective countries. Eurostat averages[4] the national HICPs to produce the multinational HICPs, including the European Index of Consumer Prices (EICP), the aggregate HICP for the entire EU. Eurostat also produces average HICPs for other European areas and country groups, such as the Eurozone. Eurostat publishes these HICPs in its monthly press release.[5] The European Central Bank (ECB), the monetary authority that regulates the euro, is a primary user of the HICP. The ECB uses the HICP to formulate Eurozone monetary policy. Some countries outside of Europe also calculate an HICP for the ECB and for their own use. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been producing a US-HICP[6] as an experimental index[7] since 2006.
The U.S. HICP differs from the official U.S. CPI—in two major respects: population coverage and the treatment of owner-occupied housing . The CPI-U’s target population is urban consumers, noninstitutional residents of metropolitan areas and urban places in the United States; their consumption expenditures are the basis for the CPI-U weights. On the other hand, Eurostat specifies that HICP targets a country’s total population: rural as well as urban. BLS was able to expand the population coverage for the US-HICP to the total (noninstitutional) U.S. population, because the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE), which is the source for the CPI weights, covers rural areas. As the CPI does not collect prices in rural areas, the US-HICP uses the price movement of non-metropolitan urban places in each of the four census regions to stand in for rural price change in each region. (BLS was not able to add the institutional population, which consists largely of residents of prisons and nursing homes; but this population’s expenditures are very low, so this probably is not a serious omission.[8])
Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization
Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization
Source: International Labour Organization
In many ways the power of the social protection floor lies in its simplicity. The floor is based on the idea that everyone should enjoy at least basic income security sufficient to live, guaranteed through transfers in cash or in kind, such as pensions for the elderly and persons with disabilities, child benefits, income support benefits and/or employment guarantees and services for the unemployed and working poor. Together, in cash and in kind transfers should ensure that everyone has access to essential goods and services, including essential health services, primary education, housing, water and sanitation.
This report, prepared under the guidance of Ms Michelle Bachelet and members of the Advisory Group, shows that the extension of social protection, drawing on social protection floors, can play a pivotal role in relieving people of poverty and deprivation. It can in addition help people adapt their skills to overcome the constraints that block their full participation in a changing economic and social environment, contributing to improved human capital development and stimulating greater productive activity. The report also shows how social protection has helped to stabilize aggregate demand in times of crisis and to increase resilience against economic shocks, contributing to accelerate recovery towards more inclusive and sustainable development paths.
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Apocalypse Then: The Evolution of the North Atlantic Economy and the Global Crisis
Apocalypse Then: The Evolution of the North Atlantic Economy and the Global Crisis
Source: International Monetary Fund
The financial crisis, originated from the collapse of US housing markets in 2008, reverberates around the world. Its destructive force was felt nowhere more keenly than Western Europe. Indeed, it continues to mire in financial volatility as the debt problem contagiously spreads around the periphery Euro area. Taking a wider historical view of the evolution over the recent decades of the North Atlantic economy, comprising North America and Western Europe, we argue that while trade links were in relative stasis, the increasing and uniquely-close Transatlantic financial relationship was a crucial conduit in transmitting US shocks into global ones.
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U.S. Solar Industry Was Net Global Exporter by $1.9B in 2010
U.S. Solar Industry Was Net Global Exporter by $1.9B in 2010
Source: Solar Energy Industries Association
A new report shows that the U.S. is central to the global solar supply chain. In 2010, U.S. solar firms achieved a positive trade flow of $1.9 billion globally according to SEIA® and GTM Research’s U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2011. Photovoltaic (PV) components accounted for more than 99 percent of the year’s exports, with solar heating and cooling (SHC) claiming the remainder of the positive balance.
For the U.S. PV manufacturing industry, 2010 was a record year. Exports totaled more than $5.6 billion, with PV polysilicon feedstock and capital equipment leading all components at $2.5 billion and $1.4 billion respectively. The leading destinations for U.S.-sourced PV components were China and Germany. Meanwhile, U.S. imports of PV products totaled $3.7 billion, the majority of which ($2.4 billion) came from procurement of modules assembled overseas. China and Mexico were the top two sources of PV goods headed to the U.S. in 2010.
Furthermore, the U.S. was a net exporter of solar products to China last year by more than $240 million. The U.S. primarily sold capital equipment and PV polysilicon to China, while China primarily sold PV modules to the U.S.
Animal Research in a Global Environment: Meeting the Challenges: Proceedings of the November 2008 International Workshop
Animal Research in a Global Environment: Meeting the Challenges: Proceedings of the November 2008 International Workshop
Source: National Research Council
Animal research will play an essential role in efforts to meet increasing demands for global health care. Yet the animal research community faces the challenge of overcoming negative impressions that industry and academia engage in international collaborations in order to conduct work in parts of the world where animal welfare standards are less stringent. Thus, the importance of ensuring the international harmonization of the principles and standards of animal care and use cannot be overstated. A number of national and international groups are actively working toward this goal.
The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), a program unit of the US National Research Council, is committed to promoting both the welfare of animals used in research and the quality of the resulting science. In 2008, to follow up on the 2003 event, ILAR convened a workshop which brought together 200 participants from 17 countries. Their mission was to identify and promote better understanding of important challenges in the conduct of animal research across country boundaries. These challenges include: the sourcing of animals; the quality of veterinary care; competent staff; the provision of a suitable environment (including nutritious food and potable water) for animals; and ongoing oversight of the animal program; among others.
Animal Research in a Global Environment summarizes the proceedings of the 2008 workshop. The impact of this 2008 workshop has extended beyond the oral presentations conveyed in these proceedings. It has been a vital bridge for diverse colleagues and organizations around the world to advance initiatives designed to fill gaps in standards, professional qualifications, and coordination of animal use.
2010 report on European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF): FAQ
2010 report on European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF): FAQ
Source: European Commission
Why does the Commission present an annual report on the EGF?
The EGF Regulation which set up the Fund requires an annual report on the EGF. The fourth annual report describes the activities of the EGF during 2010 and it also describes the outcomes of four EGF contributions granted in previous years and how it complements actions funded by other EU funds.What are the objectives of the EGF?
The EGF, an initiative first proposed by President Barroso to provide help for people who lose their jobs due to the impact of globalisation, was established by the European Parliament and the Council at the end of 2006.It was designed as a means of reconciling the overall long-term benefits of open trade in terms of growth and employment with the short-term adverse effects which globalisation may have, particularly on the employment of the most vulnerable and lowest-skilled workers. In June 2009, the EGF rules were revised to strengthen the role of the EGF as a crisis intervention instrument forming part of Europe’s response to the financial and economic crisis.
As part of its proposal for the next Multi-annual Financial Framework beyond 2013, the Commission has proposed that the EU should continue to express solidarity with redundant workers and the affected regions through the EGF also in the future.
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World Investment Report 2011
World Investment Report 2011
Source: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Global foreign direct investment (FDI) has not yet bounced back to pre-crisis levels, though some regions show better recovery than others. The reason is not financing constraints, but perceived risks and regulatory uncertainty in a fragile world economy.
The World Investment Report 2011 forecasts that, barring any economic shocks, FDI flows will recover to pre-crisis levels over the next two years. The challenge for the development community is to make this anticipated investment have greater impact on our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
In 2010 – for the first time – developing economies absorbed close to half of global FDI inflows. They also generated record levels of FDI outflows, much of it directed to other countries in the South. This further demonstrates the growing importance of developing economies to the world economy, and of South-South cooperation and investment for sustainable development.
Increasingly, transnational corporations are engaging with developing and transition economies through a broadening array of production and investment models, such as contract manufacturing and farming, service outsourcing, franchising and licensing. These relatively new phenomena present opportunities for developing and transition economies to deepen their integration into the rapidly evolving global economy, to strengthen the potential of their home-grown productive capacity, and to improve their international competitiveness.
Unlocking the full potential of these new developments will depend on wise policymaking and institution building by governments and international organizations. Entrepreneurs and businesses in developing and transition economies need frameworks in which they can benefit fully from integrated international production and trade. I commend this report, with its wealth of research and analysis, to policymakers and businesses pursuing development success in a fast-changing world.
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Remittances in Pakistan – Why have they gone up, and why aren’t they coming down?
Remittances in Pakistan – Why have they gone up, and why aren’t they coming down?
Source: International Monetary Fund
The flow of workers’ remittances to Pakistan has more than quadrupled in the last eight years and it shows no sign of slowing down, despite the economic downturn in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other important host countries for Pakistani workers. This paper analyses the forces that have driven remittance flows to Pakistan in recent years. The main conclusions are: (i) the growth in the inflow of workers’ remittances to Pakistan is in large part due to an increase in worker migration; (ii) higher skill levels of migrating workers have helped to boost remittances; (iii) other imporant determinants of remittances to Pakistan are agriculture output and the relative yield on investments in the host and home countries.
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