Economics

Market failure or low-skills equilibrium?

Market Failure or Low-Skills Equilibrium
As we know from countless growth accounting studies, the ability of a country to educate and train its citizens is a key determinant of economic development. There is also fairly strong evidence at the company level that a workforce with higher human capital generates higher productivity. In other words, not only are there strong incentives for governments to educate and train people, but there are also incentives at the firm level for companies to hire more educated workers and to offer training to their existing workers.

Industry and trade

How trade can promote SDG goal 3: Duty-free market access for health products

How Trade Can Promote SDG Goal 3 Duty-FreeMarket Access for Health Products
Trade in health products has increased substantially over the past 2decades, and tariffs on health products have been lowered, making, for example, medicines more affordable for many.Indeed, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 calls upon countries to ensure healthy lives and to promote well-being for all ages. Yet in several developing countries, substantial tariffs still persist, inflating the prices of health products. The most direct and immediate contribution of the trade community toward achieving SDG 3 couldbe to open up trade unilaterally or to negotiate a plurilateral trade agreement, which would guarantee free market access for health products, like much-needed medicines.

Industry and trade, Infrastructure

Why poor countries should invest first in national trade infrastructure

Why poor countries should invest first in national trade infrastructure
Low-income countries are often advised to prioritize investment in their trade infrastructure to better connect to international markets, and garner the benefits of a more open trade regime. The World Bank’s Trade Facilitation Support Program and the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s Trade Facilitation Agreement, for example, promote investment in trade infrastructure to boost development prospects by improving competitiveness and lowering trade costs.

Urban development

Housing policies under the New Urban Agenda

Housing policies under the New Urban Agenda
The biggest intergovernmental conference on housing and urbanization, Habitat III, took place in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016. The main outcome of the conference was the adoption of the New Urban Agenda (NUA). The NUA does not consider urbanization as an obstacle to development but rather a key development driver. Providing adequate and affordable housing is one key theme in the NUA. It stresses the need to promote not only homeownership but also other types of tenure, such as cohousing.

Industry and trade

The impact of trade on employment in the Sustainable Development Goals

The impact of trade on employment in the Sustainable Development Goals
Employment was an afterthought in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It was not part of the original goals but was added in 2008, halfway through the implementation period. It is, however, a key element of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal 8 encourages countries to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.” There are eight employment-related targets and ten specific indicators (United Nations 2015).

Industry and trade

Trading for sustainable fisheries

Trading for Sustainable Fisheries
What fish trade policy options and recommendations can be put in place to help achieve the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations? We need to understand the (i) relationship between fish trade and sustainable fisheries; (ii) potential promise of and the perils in the fish trade; and (iii) main trade-related concerns in the sustainability of fisheries. Sumaila (2017) addresses these issues in detail.

Gender

Inclusive development: can trade be good for women?

Inclusive development: can trade be good for women?
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the need to achieve gender equality and to empower women and girls. Development that is truly inclusive clearly requires special attention to outcomes affecting more than half of the world’s population—yet historically, a group that has seen discrimination in law and fact over a long period.

Economics, Education

Benefits of education and training for SMEs in Asia

Benefits of education and training for SMEs in Asia
The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to economies in Asia is well known. They account for over 95% of all businesses, a third to half of aggregate output, and the majority of enterprise employment (Vandenberg, Chantapacdepong, and Yoshino 2016). We also know that SMEs do not have an easy life. They struggle to get established, face a higher failure rate than large firms, and lack access to key inputs such as finance. Finding ways to increase their survival rate and growth is important for expanding private sector activity in Asia’s developing economies. Sustaining enterprises requires that they are competitive; competitiveness, in turn, is based on productivity.

Industry and trade

Still time to reconnect trade policy and SDGs

Still time to reconnect trade policy and SDGs
In 2002, “trade for development” was a core topic of the Millennium Development Goals. Fifteen years later, trade is at the periphery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Three main reasons explain this rapid decline. First, trade negotiators did their best to obscure the Doha Round and bilateral trade negotiations in byzantine and sterile debates. Second, business stopped to pay attention to trade policy because firms turned to a form of liberalization tailor-made for their own global value chains: they traded tariff cuts of interest to them in exchange of investments in the opening countries.

Agriculture and natural resources

Promoting the sustainable development goals with “win–win” regulations in food and agricultural trade

Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals with “win–win” regulations in food and agricultural trade
While the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) do not explicitly mention trade, freer trade does support at least two of them: SDG 8 (Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all) and SDG 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns) are possible through the benefits of the movement of goods and services globally. Dating back to the work of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, evidence suggests that trade is beneficial and that different types of countries can gain from trade. The gains come from efficient production and expansion of consumption opportunities.