Book Launch: The Day After Tomorrow: A Handbook on the Future of Economic Policy in the Developing World

Economists Otaviano Canuto and Marcelo Giugale pointed to a major shift in the world’s balance of economic power in their new book “The Day after Tomorrow: A Handbook on the Future of Economic Policy in the Developing World.” While developed countries face high unemployment, heavy public debt, and stagnant economies, developing countries have maintained the positive growth premium that emerged prior to the financial crisis. Moreover, the economists said they expect major emerging economies—while facing their own challenges—may become the new locomotives of the global economy.

In the aftermath of the economic crisis, Canuto and Giugale asked 40 of their World Bank colleagues to lay out their visions on how key economic policy issues will be dealt in the developing world within the next three to five years. The book resulted from this exercise revealed a reasoned optimism, based on sensible macroeconomic policies that have made developing countries resilient to the recession that engulfed advanced economies after the 2008 collapse of financial markets. Also, developing countries are integrating with each other and catching up technologically with advanced economies. Many are rich in natural resources that will remain in high demand.

Multimedia Now Available: The Day After Tomorrow

On December 16th the Brazil Institute and the Program on America and the Global Economy hosted a book launch for The Day After Tomorrow: A Handbook on the Future of Economic Policy in the Developing World by Otaviano Canuto and Marcelo Giugale.  The event can be viewed here and a pdf version of the book can be found here.

Posted by: PAGE Staff

Asian Economies Take the Lead in Global Manufacturing

Asian economies are on the rise in manufacturing capabilities according to a joint study by Deloitte and the U.S. Council on Competitiveness.  Of the  five highest ranked countries, three are in Asia, while the United States sits at number four.  China and India scored the highest, with South Korea directly above the U.S.

The report, the “2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index” identified certain driving factors of manufacturing such as talent-driven innovation and governmental policy.  The index was based on the responses of over 400 chief executives around the world.

Asia, as the study demonstrates, has become the manufacturing epicenter of the world, with co-author Craig Giffi stating that “ What had been the world order in the second half of the late 20^th century, is giving rise to new manufacturing paradigms.”

The U.S. and western European countries on the other hand are slipping, with 2015 projections seeing the U.S. falling to number five, being overtaken by emerging Brazil.

Posted by: Michael Darden

Sources: Deloitte

Photo credit: MADE IN CHINA.jpg courtesy of flickr user christophercozier

Watch Live: The Day After Tomorrow: A Handbook on the Future of Economic Policy in the Developing World

The live webcast has now concluded.  Please check back for an archived video of the event.

The Day After Tomorrow: A Handbook on the Future of Economic Policy in the Developing World

Authors: Octavio Canuto, Vice President and Head, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, The World Bank;  Marcelo Giugale, Director, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management for Latin America and the Caribbean, The World Bank

Discussants: Ajay Shankar, FICCI Scholar, Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson Center; Kent Hughes, Director, Program on America and the Global Economy, Woodrow Wilson Center

Moderator: Paulo Sotero, Director, Brazil Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center

The post-recession has been marked by a major shift in the world’s balance of economic power. While developed countries face high unemployment, heavy public debt, and stagnant economies, developing countries have managed to maintain the positive growth premium that emerged prior to the financial crisis. More and more, developing countries are integrating with each other and catching up technologically with advanced economies. Many have natural resources that will remain in high demand. With the United States and European Union still dealing with the consequences of the global meltdown and struggling to find the path back to vigorous and sustained growth, it is expected that major emerging economies, while facing their own social, economic and governance challenges, will be the main drivers of global growth in the years ahead.

Good economic management has shown that prosperity is possible in developing countries and does not need to be the privilege of the advanced economies as it has been in the past, according to World Bank economists Otaviano Canuto and Marcelo Giugale. In their new book to be presented on Dec. 16, Canuto and Giugale explain why the “rise of the rest” is not likely to be a temporary blip and argue that developing countries may become the locomotives of the global economy.

Posted by: PAGE Staff

Innovation Wins Big in Michigan-based Competition

The winners have been announced and over $1 million have been given out to leading innovators in the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition.  Announced in August as the largest business plan competition in history, it called for private entrepreneurs to create innovative business plans to promote growth, specifically within the state of Michigan.

In its first year of existence, the competition received 600 entries for the coveted prizes.

Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Armune BioScience developed a technology able to detect early onset cancer, landing them the grand price of $500,000.  In the student section, in which university-level entrepreneurs were eligible to submit plans, four University of Michigan students and their company ReGenerate, won $25,000 for transforming unwanted waste into renewable energy.  Nine other private companies received $25,000 each, and student runner-ups were given $10,000-15,000 each.

Dave Egner, Executive Director of the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan, which co-sponsored the competition, thanked all who entered the competition, adding that “[t]hese companies demonstrate how the entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to grow and thrive in a state that was built on the foundation of innovation.”

Posted by: Michael Darden

Sources: PR Newswire

Photo credit: Premier’s Innovation Awards 2010 courtesy of flickr user mars_discovery_district

Video Now Available: The Defense Industrial Base at Risk

On December 6, 2010 the Reserve Officers Association and the Woodrow Wilson Center hosted an event “The Defense Industrial Base at Risk: Perspectives from Congress, Industry & Policy Experts” to discuss the state of the defense base.  The event featured Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), Lt. Gen. Michael Dunn (Ret.), President of the Air Force Association, and two panels of public policy experts and experts from industry.

Click here to watch the video of this event.

Posted by: PAGE Staff

An Approach to Encouraging STEM Careers

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) has released a report reevaluating STEM education and providing recommendations for the future.  The report, “Refueling the U.S. Innovation Economy: Fresh Approaches to STEM Education” provides a new framework for increasing STEM-bound graduates by creating new institutions, incentivizing students, providing better information, and partnering with other industries to increase cooperation.  The report focuses on ways to increase STEM-based careers that begin in early childhood schooling while encouraging students to pursue those fields.

The new approach, which differs from almost four decades of instituting a “some STEM for all” where students would receive varying amounts of STEM-related courses through K-12, now looks at specifically targeting those students deeply interested in the subject.  The report concludes that “[…] a more effective route to producing the five percent or so of workers who have the skills needed to be STEM workers is to embrace a system where student interests and passions for STEM are what drive curricula,” effectively allocating funding and attention to those keenly interested in pursuing a future with STEM.

Posted by: Michael Darden

Sources: The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

Photo credit: Math Steeplechase 2010-83 courtesy of flickr user Inkychack

A Roadmap for Economic Growth: U.S.-China Private Sector Cooperation in Power Sector

The following summary is from an event sponsored by the Program on America and the Global Economy, the China Environment Forum, the Environmental Change and Security Program, and the Global Energy Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson Center to discuss the U.S-China economic relationship which was held on October 6, 2010.

The video archive can be viewed here.

‘…some suggest the race for those jobs is a zero sum game, saying clean energy technology development in China would be detrimental to the U.S. market…. The report we see today from Garten Rothkopf indicates the opposite: Accelerated development of energy technologies, such as those discussed in the report, could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the United States and China.’

– U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke speaking at the Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum’s October 6th event

U.S.-China cooperation in the power sector could be an important driver of economic growth in both countries, according to a new report discussed at the Woodrow Wilson Center on October 6th. The discussion, part of the China Environment Forum’s Cooperative Competitors meeting series, began with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke who provided remarks on the Obama Administration’s strategy with China, emphasizing that cooperation with China has the potential to benefit both sides if set within fair trade rules. Secretary Locke emphatically stated that “in no area is that win-win situation clearer than in the energy sector.” To support this claim of green energy sector jobs, Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, David Mohler, Senior Vice President of Duke, and Sun Yunquan, President of ENN Group North America discussed the power infrastructure collaboration between their two companies, which has enabled them to create cleaner and more reliable energy and jobs where the projects are based. Their belief in the mutual benefits of such a U.S.-China power sector partnership is backed by a new report by Garten Rothkopf’s Anatomy of a Partnership: Benefits of US-China Private Sector Cooperation in the Power Sector. This report examines the potential benefits of collaboration in the areas of IGCC and carbon capture, solar PV manufacturing and installation, supercritical coal and smart grid development.

HUGE POTENTIAL OF CLEAN ENERGY MARKETS
Secretary Locke started his remarks by stating that while there have been some challenges in U.S.-China economic cooperation—notably intellectual property protection, Chinese indigenous innovation policies, and currency valuation—the growth of economic relations that began 35 years ago has benefited both sides and “continued economic growth and robust trade between our two nations will continue to deliver benefits to the people of both China and the United States.”

Secretary Locke emphasized that clean energy has huge economic potential as China is expected to spend $3.1 trillion to meet its electricity demand in the next 20 years. This economic potential, coupled with the threat of global climate change, will require massive infrastructure developments and is an opportunity for U.S. companies, like Duke Energy, to grow their operations, create jobs and expand economically. The Secretary concluded by saying “I’m confident that this partnership, especially in clean energy, will only continue to strengthen over time. And we will all be better for it.”

Waiting for a New Sputnik

South Korea and Finland scored the highest amongst 15-year-old students in three main subjects of math, science, and reading according to a recently published report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  Conversely, the United States has continued its educational skid, and currently sits at fourteenth, well behind the leading European and Asian countries.  Meanwhile, in China, there were large gains in the Shanghai-area, which have stunned officials, but many view the scores with skepticism, arguing the city does not represent the country as a whole.

The statistics are based on an OECD administrated test, known as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).  Over 470,000 students in 65 countries took part in the assessment last year.

At a Capitol Hill event, the OECD Division Head of the PISA program Andreas Schleicher presented the findings and demonstrated the transitioning landscape of education, particularly with the rise of Chinese cities and the stagnation of U.S. school systems.  Schleicher concluded his presentation by saying that “education can change, education is changing.”

At a PAGE event this past March, Schleicher addressed the growing achievement gap within the United States, adding that standards need to be reformed while empowering teachers to improve guidelines and methods.  Schleicher argued that the “resulting value of successful school reform far exceeds any conceivable costs of improvement.”

The U.S. hovers around average in reading and science, with math scores well below the OECD average.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the findings “a massive wake-up call.”  Secretary Duncan, hoping to use the report as driving force in education reform, remarked that “We can quibble, or we can face the brutal truth that we’re being out-educated.”

In a speech at Forsyth Technical Community College in North Carolina, President Obama compared the education challenges of today to the space race at the height of the Cold War.  “Fifty years later, our generation’s Sputnik moment is back,” adding “nations with the most educated workers will prevail.”

Posted by: Michael Darden

Sources: Washington Post, New York Times, OECD, Huffington Post, Alliance for Excellent Education

Photo credit: Osterreich 2020 courtesy of flickr user SPO Presse und Kommunikation

You are Invited: The Day after Tomorrow: A Handbook on the Future of Economic Policy in the Developing World

The Brazil Institute and the Program on America and the Global Economy at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Invite you to a book launch:

The Day after Tomorrow: A Handbook on the Future of Economic Policy in the Developing World

Thursday, December 16, 2010 – 10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

5^th Floor Conference Room

RSVP (Acceptances only): renata.johnson@wilsoncenter.org

Authors: Otaviano Canuto, Vice President and Head, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, The World Bank; Marcelo Giugale, Director, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management for Latin America and the Caribbean, The World Bank

Discussants: Ajay Shankar, FICCI Scholar, Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson Center; Kent Hughes, Director, Program on America and the Global Economy, Woodrow Wilson Center Moderator: Paulo Sotero, Director of the Brazil Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center

The post-recession has been marked by a major shift in the world’s balance of economic power. While developed countries face high unemployment, heavy public debt, and stagnant economies, developing countries have managed to maintain the positive growth premium that emerged prior to the financial crisis. More and more, developing countries are integrating with each other and catching up technologically with advanced economies. Many have natural resources that will remain in high demand. With the United States and European Union still dealing with the consequences of the global meltdown and struggling to find the path back to vigorous and sustained growth, it is expected that major emerging economies, while facing their own social, economic and governance challenges, will be the main drivers of global growth in the years ahead. Good economic management has shown that prosperity is possible in developing countries and need not be the privilege of the advanced economies as it has been in the past, according to World Bank economists Otaviano Canuto and Marcelo Giugale. In their new book to be presented on Dec. 16, Canuto and Giugale explain why the “rise of the rest” is not likely to be a temporary blip and argue that developing countries may become the locomotives of the global economy.

For more information on the Brazil Institute, visit www.wilsoncenter.org\brazil

Woodrow Wilson Center – 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. – Washington, DC 20004

Posted by: PAGE Staff