On capitalist global economy and its foundational ideology “Economics” by George Soros et al, Dec 2008
December 20th, 2008 by Franz
THE ECONOMIC CRISIS: Capitalist Fools, by JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ, Jan 2009
December 20th, 2008 by Franz
THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
CAPITALIST FOOLS
Behind the debate over remaking U.S. financial policy will be a debate
over who’s to blame. It’s crucial to get the history right, writes a
Nobel-laureate economist, identifying five key mistakes—under Reagan,
Clinton, and Bush II—and one national delusion.
by JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
January 2009
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and former Federal Reserve Board
chairman Alan Greenspan bookend two decades of economic missteps.
There will come a moment when the most urgent threats posed by the
credit crisis have eased and the larger task before us will be to
chart a direction for the economic steps ahead. This will be a
dangerous moment. Behind the debates over future policy is a debate
over history—a debate over the causes of our current situation. The
battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it’s
crucial to get the history straight.
To click the full text of this analysis click the link below.
A Brief Look at Myanmar Economy under the Military Rule, International Monetary Fund, Sept 2007
December 6th, 2008 by Franz
Bullet points from IMF Article IV mission briefing, Sept 4 2007
• In general the cooperation from the technical counterpoints was very good, even better than last year.
• Continuing concerns about (Myanmar) Govt capacity. Counterparts are suffering from lack of opportunity to interact with outside world, seen both in technical skills & morale. IMF will try to increase engagement at the technical level.
• Growth benefits are not accruing in a broad way; price increases and inflation will hurt a substantial proportion of the population, so the average person will feel worse off this year despite economic improvements. The problem is not growth but resource allocation, which is biased towards the rich. Education & health sectors are thus basically privatized because public services are so bad.
To read the full text click on the link below.
Democracy in Pakistan: State, Military and Social Transition, S Akbar Zaidi, Dec 2005
December 6th, 2008 by Franz
State, Military and Social Transition
Improbable Future of Democracy in Pakistan
S AKBAR ZAIDI
Economic and Political Weekly December 3, 2005
It is because social groups and classes, who have the most to gain from establishing democratic institutions in Pakistan, already have access to the state and to the nexus of power, that they have little need for “messy” democracy, participation and accountability. Pakistan may be increasingly dominated by urban middle class factions and groups and has an “urban, modern, feel to it”. Unlike other countries where the rising urban middle classes have struggled for collective social emancipation and democracy, Pakistan’s middle classes, as this paper argues, have preferred to become partners of authoritarian and military governments. Moreover, Pakistan’s experiment with democracy in the 1990s was one that was controlled and dominated by the military; thus, the idea of democracy itself has found few enthusiasts in Pakistan.
To read the full text of this analysis click on the link below.
A political introduction to India, The British House of Commons, 2006
December 6th, 2008 by Franz
A political introduction to India
The House of Commons Library, United Kingdom
“Overall, pessimistic predictions of an emerging ‘crisis of
governability’ in India, as increased public expectations clash with the state’s limited capability to deliver, have so far proved exaggerated. Yet there is a real question mark over how long formal democratic equality can coexist with persistent social and economic inequalities. As poor people have become more involved in the democratic system, analysts have predicted that the state’s failure to deliver for these groups may result in them becoming disillusioned and resentful. Such feelings have already strengthened the hand of the Maoist Naxalite movement, which is targeting those whom it sees as enemies of the poor in nine states in Eastern and Southern India.”
To read the full text click on the link below.
DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA’S INFORMAL ECONOMY - Barbara Harriss-White
December 6th, 2008 by Franz
DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA’S INFORMAL ECONOMY
Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Written Evidence
Written evidence submitted by Professor Barbara Harriss-White, Queen
Elizabeth House, Oxford
November 2006
India has been successfully branded and twinned with China as
the emergent knowledge-services and manufacturing hubs respectively of
the 21st century world. But, although growing rapidly, knowledge
services are a very small fraction of India’s economy and an even
smaller fraction of world trade in software services. An estimated two
thirds of India’s GDP is in the informal economy and out of the direct
control of the State.
Click here to read the full text of this expert written evidence.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmfaff/55/55we26.htm
Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World, US National Intelligence Council, Nov 2008
November 29th, 2008 by Franz
Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World
United States National Intelligence Council
November 2008 Executive
Summary The international system—as constructed following the Second World War—will be almost unrecognizable by 2025 owing to the rise of emerging powers, a globalizing economy, an historic transfer of relative wealth and economic power from West to East, and the growing influence of nonstate actors. By 2025, the international system will be a global multipolar one with gaps in national power2 continuing to narrow between developed and developing countries. Concurrent with the shift in power among nation-states, the relative power of various nonstate actors—including businesses, tribes, religious organizations, and criminal networks—is increasing. The players are changing, but so too are the scope and breadth of transnational issues important for continued global prosperity. Aging populations in the developed world; growing energy, food, and water constraints; and worries about climate change.
To read the full-text of the report click on the link below.
Myanmar Economy: A Comparative View, U Myint, 2006
November 27th, 2008 by Franz
Myanmar Economy: A Comparative View
U Myint
Paper presented at the Burma Studies Conference, Singapore,
13 - 15 July 2006
A stated objective of Myanmar is to become a modern developed nation that will stand shoulder to shoulder – proud, dignified and tall – among the countries of the world. How far has Myanmar come in achieving this goal, viewed from an economic perspective? Where does it stand at present in relation to other nations, and especially those in the Asian region?
This paper attempts to provide some thoughts along these lines by looking at Myanmar’s official data on: (i) rate of GDP growth; (ii) structure of GDP; (iii) level of per capita GDP; (iv) pattern of household consumption expenditure; (v) commodity composition of exports; (vi) inflation rate and (vii) exchange rate.
To read the full-text click on the link below.
The Role of Sangha in Burmese Society - Sylwia Gil, Sept 2008
November 12th, 2008 by Franz
The Role of Monkhood in Contemporary Myanmar Society
By Sylwia Gil, Specialist on South East Asia and Theravada Buddhism, Warsaw, Poland,
September 2008, (on behalf of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung)
“Recent events in Myanmar, particularly the “Saffron Revolution” in 2007 and cyclone Nargis in 2008 placed Myanmar monks in the focus of the international community. Not for the first time in history, the Myanmar’s clergy took a leading role in times of emergency, and was able to mobilise rapidly their forces in order to help and represent the people of Myanmar.”
To read the full-text click on the link below:
fes-analysis-of-the-role-of-buddhist-monks-in-burmese-society-sept-2008.pdf
