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Yves here. While readers may think development policy has limited relevance to US and advanced economy readers, the IMF and World Bank have been and continue to be vehicles to make the world, particularly smaller or otherwise more influe...
Yves here. While readers may think development policy has limited relevance to US and advanced economy readers, the IMF and World Bank have been and continue to be vehicles to make the world, particularly smaller or otherwise more influenceable regimes, more friendly to the interests of US multinationals. And at the same time US companies are taking down a record share of GDP in profits, the country’s ranking in inequality is worse than that of many developing economies. New York City is more unequal than China, and as the chart below shows, is also more unequal than Russia, famed for its oligarchs, and India, which still has hundreds of millions living in abject poverty. So the World Bank’s efforts over time to exclude issues like corruption and inequality from its analysis have direct and obvious parallels to policy discussions here. Wade’s anecdotes of the way the World Bank refused to even allow the “c” word to be acknowledged are striking. It’s a near certainty that the big reason inequality is now a regular topic of conversation among economists, for instance, is that the rapid rise of a super rich class while average workers are left in the dust makes it impossible to ignore. By Robert Wade, Professor of Political Economy, London School of Economics. Cross posted from Triple Crisis On May 29 2013 James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank from 1995 to 2005, gave the Amartya Sen lecture at the London School of Economics, on the subject, “Reflections on a changing world, 1950-2050”. His reflections on the changing world were mainly reflections on what he achieved as World Bank president. He emphasised five. • Re-focusing the World Bank – and the whole development “community” – on poverty as the central issue of development. • Elevating “corruption” as a major development problem, instead of sweeping it under the carpet. • Writing-down countries’ debt (especially African) – so that World Bank loans no longer went straight out the door to western banks and instead were used for investment in the country. • Putting Bank operations in a particular country in the context of a broad vision of the economy’s future development path five to ten years ahead, in the format of his “Comprehensive Development Framework” (CDF). • Decentralizing World Bank operations, so that more of the total staff operated from regional or country offices rather than from headquarters in Washington DC, and more meetings with shareholding states were held in borrowing countries rather than in Washington or Paris. Here I comment on the first two: poverty reduction as the central goal of development, and corruption as an explicitly stated problem. I put them in historical context, not least because the World Bank operates without memory of its own history – as seen in the fact that most Executive Directors (the civil servants of member countries who constitute the 25 seat Executive Board, which governs the Bank on a day-to-day basis) and also most staff have never even heard of, let alone read any of The World Bank: Its First Half Century, the independently written but semi-official history published by Brookings Institution in 1997. For most of the time since it was published the World Bank book shop has not even stocked it, on the ostensible grounds that the Bank did not publish it. Or to be more exact, these are my findings from asking just about every staff member and Executive Director I’ve met since 1997 about the two-volume history, and from enquiring about its availability on every visit to the Bank. I have a vested interest, as author of chapter 13, “Greening the Bank: The struggle over the environment, 1970-1995”, volume 2, pp.611-734. Poverty Reduction and Inequality Wolfensohn’s elevation of poverty reduction as the central goal echoes then World Bank president Robert McNamara in 1973, forty years ago, who solemnly proposed in a speech in Nairobi, Kenya, a “new strategy”. The “ambitious objective
42 minutes ago
A full rack of CitiBikes in Fort Greene. The program could help areas that have to suffer through Sandy-related subway repairs. (Photo via Second Ave. Sagas on Instagram) For New Yorkers and the MTA, an inconvenient truth is looming ever...
A full rack of CitiBikes in Fort Greene. The program could help areas that have to suffer through Sandy-related subway repairs. (Photo via Second Ave. Sagas on Instagram) For New Yorkers and the MTA, an inconvenient truth is looming ever larger. On August 3, the R train’s Montague Tube will close for 14 months as MTA contractors rebuild the tunnel from the ground up in order to repair damage from Sandy. Meanwhile, in three weeks, the G train tunnel will begin its summer of shutdowns, and that work is set to stretch into next year. We’re only just getting started. Ultimately, there’s an end in sight for this inconvenience, but it’s years into the future. The L train’s Canarsie Tube has run into problems lately, and other East River crossings are not well off. It’s easy to close the R train as nearby stations and more reliable subway lines provide redundancies, but as we’ll see in a few weeks, nearly every other train line is tougher to replace. The G train, in particular, poses some problems as it is the only subway link between Long Island City and Brooklyn that doesn’t involve a circuitous trip through Manhattan. As the MTA gears up for the G train shutdowns and extended service changes, the agency is trying to assess alternate service. Greenpointers are resigned to the fate of a shuttle bus, but politicians are already angling for a different solution. As ridership north of Nassau Ave. isn’t overwhelming, the latest craze sweeping the city’s transportation system could help. The solution may lie in bike share. I haven’t written too much about Citi Bike since the program started a few weeks ago, but last May, I examined how it can solve the first mile/last mile problem. With the successful launch of Citi Bikes, New York’s officials have called upon anyone listening to fund an expansion into areas impacted by Sandy, and the Daily News reports that the MTA may oblige. We could have MTA bikes soon enough. Pete Donohue has the story: The first expansion of Citi Bike could be to Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods that are facing extensive subway outages to allow post-Sandy repairs on the G train. MTA and Bloomberg administration officials are exploring an accelerated Citi Bike expansion to Long Island City, Queens, and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, sources said. The possibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority picking up some or all of the cost is one focus of the talks, sources said. “It’s an active discussion,” a transit source said. “We recognize the G train serves an area without other subway options.” Details are, of course, scarce at this early stage, but Donohue notes that Greenpoint and Long Island City were originally part of the initial bike share roll out before Sandy destroyed some of the equipment. Still, this is a nearly ideal situation for the area. Since ridership at these G train stations isn’t overwhelming, bike share could make a significant dent in bridging the gap between Court Sq. and Nassau Ave. It is, in fact, that first mile/last mile problem laid bare for all to see. A MTA-funded portion of bike share would raise a number of questions — including those surrounding its future once the Greenpoint Tube is repaired and branding discussions — but these are problems that can be overcome. Already areas of the city without bike share are clamoring for it, and with numerous transit shutdowns on tap, it’s time to ramp up expansion.
about 1 hour ago
Amplify, the new education venture at News Corp., is getting into the gaming business.  On Tuesday, the company rolled out more than 30 digital games designed to help middle school students improve their language arts and STEM (science, ...
Amplify, the new education venture at News Corp., is getting into the gaming business.  On Tuesday, the company rolled out more than 30 digital games designed to help middle school students improve their language arts and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills. The games won’t be made widely available to districts until the spring of 2014, but they’re being piloted now in a few schools across the country. Naturally, the games can be played on Amplify’s own branded tablet – the 10-inch Asus device running the Jellybean Android operating system, which it launched at SXSWedu earlier this year. But the games will also run on other major mobile operating systems, including iOS. Schools can buy them as part of a broader Amplify curriculum or separately, the company said. In pitching its tablet, Amplify talked up the benefits of giving schools an entire learning package of hardware and software (each Amplify tablet is specially optimized at the manufacturer level for use in schools and comes pre-loaded with learning tools and content). But the company also sees an opportunity in offering schools just a tablet-based curriculum, of which the new video games are a part. The games, which include an English language game world called Lexica, an arcade-style game called Food Web and a real-time strategy game called TyrAnt, were designed to hold students’ attention as much as for learning. The hope is that students will be hooked enough to play the games outside of the classroom and extend learning time, the company said. “We’re not designing homework here,” Joel Klein, Amplify’s CEO and the former New York City Schools Chancellor, said in a statement. “These games will improve learning not because kids have to play them in school, but because they want to play them in their own free time.” It remains to be seen just how effective these games will be in boosting students’ skills, but interest in educational games, generally, is growing. Earlier this year, New Schools Venture Fund and social gaming company Zynga announced an accelerator for educational gaming startups. And, last year, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation put their weight behind a project at Electronic Arts called the Games, Learning and Assessment (GLASS) Lab. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.Where the next-generation console fits in today’s video game marketSocial 2013: The enterprise strikes backSocial third-quarter 2012: analysis and outlook
about 1 hour ago
Apparently, there is no need to visit KAWS’ Solo Exhibition in Switzerland for a quick experience in the sense of scale. In fact, just swing by the corner of East 57th Street and 5th Avenue Maison in New York City to observe titans...
Apparently, there is no need to visit KAWS’ Solo Exhibition in Switzerland for a quick experience in the sense of scale. In fact, just swing by the corner of East 57th Street and 5th Avenue Maison in New York City to observe titans on display as dinosaurs invade Louis Vuitton‘s 5th Avenue Maison. Inspired by a recent trip to Les Jardins des Plantes of Paris’ Natural History Museum, the creative team at Louis Vuitton devised a window display unlike any of their previous designs. Motivated in part by people’s fascination with dinosaurs, the team decided to bring the museum to them instead by re-creating parts of the fossil exhibition hall as the flagship store’s window display. Every bit customized with museum quality display case made of real dark oak, as a way to match the stores’ parquet floors, each then lined with premium quilted velvet in canard-green. Even the skeletal replicas of the pre-historic beasts underwent a “premium make-over,” plated in layers of shining antique gold. But to truly rouse a sliver of “realism,” the team mischievously placed each colossus next to Louis Vuitton’s iconic handbags (the Speedy, the Sofia Coppola, the Alma and the Noe) and mannequins dressed in Pre-Fall 2013 Collection. The dinosaurs on display include: The spiny Dimetrodon, the oldest of the selection, dating from 290 million years ago, with its distinctive sail of spines on its back. The placid Stegosaurus, with plates across its backbone like a jaw full of wonky teeth. The gigantic, pond-paddling Brachiosaurus. The swift-footed, fast-thinking Velociraptor. The predatory Spinosaurus, largest of the meat-eaters, even bigger than the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The three-horned Triceratops, the youngest of the bunch at a mere 65 millions years old. The dinosaurs window display is currently on view at Louis Vuitton‘s 5th Avenue Maison in New York City. Louis Vuitton – 5th Avenue Maison 1 East 57th Street | Map New York, NY 10022 TEL #: 212-758-8877 Read the rest of Dinosaurs Invade Louis Vuitton’s 5th Avenue Maison Windows | NYC © Poe for FreshnessMag.com, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Follow us: Facebook | Twitter Post tags: Louis Vuitton
about 1 hour ago
J. Cole is currently in New York City promoting his new album Born Sinner and he stopped by Hot 97 for a sit down with Funkmaster Flex. Listen as Jermaine spits some bars over a few different classic instrumentals for the audience after ...
J. Cole is currently in New York City promoting his new album Born Sinner and he stopped by Hot 97 for a sit down with Funkmaster Flex. Listen as Jermaine spits some bars over a few different classic instrumentals for the audience after his interview. Born Sinner is available on iTunes now. Read Time Freeman‘s official [...]The post J.Cole – Funkmaster Flex Freestyle appeared first on Rap Dose.
about 1 hour ago
Kanye West jumped the gun on the June 18 release date for his sixth studio album, Yeezus, making it available to buy at KanyeWest.com a day early Monday night for $11.99. West skipped selling pre-orders of the album on iTunes. Visitors t...
Kanye West jumped the gun on the June 18 release date for his sixth studio album, Yeezus, making it available to buy at KanyeWest.com a day early Monday night for $11.99. West skipped selling pre-orders of the album on iTunes. Visitors to the site are greeted with an American Psycho-themed short film promoting the album. The clip — featuring Scott Disick and Jonathan Cheban from reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians — debuted last week during a private listening party in New York City (watch below), but this site-version is higher quality. Following the video, a "Download" button on the site leads visitors to this purchasing page Read more...More about Music, Entertainment, Celebrities, Kanye West, and Yeezus
about 2 hours ago
The wait is over! The MDNA Tour video release premieres tonight at the Paris Theater in New York City ahead of its tv broadcast on Epix on June 22nd. Are you one of the lucky fans attending the...
The wait is over! The MDNA Tour video release premieres tonight at the Paris Theater in New York City ahead of its tv broadcast on Epix on June 22nd. Are you one of the lucky fans attending the...
about 2 hours ago
Josh Seefried OutServe-SLDN has announced that Lieutenant Josh Seefried, the co-chair of their board of directors, will be joining with a variety of other active duty lesbian and gay servicemembers in order to ring the Closing Bell to en...
Josh Seefried OutServe-SLDN has announced that Lieutenant Josh Seefried, the co-chair of their board of directors, will be joining with a variety of other active duty lesbian and gay servicemembers in order to ring the Closing Bell to end the trading day on the New York Stock Exchange this upcoming 28 June. Reverend Allyson Robinson, an Army veteran and the Executive Director for OutServe-SLDN, stated “OutServe-SLDN thanks the New York Stock Exchange for recognizing the courage and sacrifice of America’s LGB service members in this way, and we are thrilled to be invited to ring the closing bell as New York City Pride weekend begins.” According to OutServe-SLDN: At 2:30 p.m. EDT, the New York Stock Exchange will host a panel discussion in the Exchange’s board room, featuring Seefried and other actively serving LGB members of the armed forces, who will share their perspectives on serving following the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The panel will be introduced by NYSE Euronext COO Lawrence Leibowitz, and moderated by former Interbank Roundtable Committee Co-Chair and Citibank Director Andrew Sendall, who is a former US Air Force officer. At 4:00 p.m. EDT, the group of actively serving LGB service members will ring The NYSE Closing Bell®. At 5:30, the service members will move to RockBar, located at 185 Christopher Street, where they will be the honored guests at an OutServe-SLDN Happy Hour to kick off New York City Pride Weekend. The public is invited to the Happy Hour event, which will feature performances by The Broadway Boys. Tickets start at $25 and are available here:http://osnycpride.eventbrite.com/
about 2 hours ago
Art
Transformer is an NYC Apartment That Morphs to Meet Your Needs
Transformer is an NYC Apartment That Morphs to Meet Your Needs
about 2 hours ago
Very nice clean car with very good service history. 44,000 miles. More photos can found on this link:http://www.forzamotorsports.com/1984ferrari308gtsqvf/default.htmIf you have questions you can reach me at: forzamot@aol.com or call 860-...
Very nice clean car with very good service history. 44,000 miles. More photos can found on this link:http://www.forzamotorsports.com/1984ferrari308gtsqvf/default.htmIf you have questions you can reach me at: forzamot@aol.com or call 860-350-1140Car is located about 75 miles north of New York City in the Northwestern Corner of Connecticut
about 2 hours ago