Is the current international economic architecture helping or hindering development? Is it enabling the transformation of national economies, creating productive jobs and better standards of living? Or is it standing in the way of equitable, inclusive and sustainable economic and social development?
Because the economies of developing countries are highly integrated into the international economy, its design is crucial for the success or failure of their development paths. In this UNRISD Seminar, Manuel Montes of The South Centre shows how the current international economic system is in many ways preventing developing countries from achieving the transformation of their economies which is necessary to raise productivity and levels of living.
Focusing on aspects which hinder investment in new economic activities in developing countries, Montes puts forward proposals to redesign three areas of the international economic architecture:
- improve international institutional arrangements
- create more national policy space
- improve the responsiveness of international governance structures
Montes presents elements of a new global deal to enable developing countries to transform their economies.
The Speaker
Manuel F. Montes (“Butch”) is Senior Advisor on Finance and Development at the South Centre in Geneva. He was previously Chief of Development Strategies, UN-DESA, where he led the team that produced the World Economic and Social Survey (WESS) in 2011. Before that, he was Chief of Policy Analysis and Development in the UN’s Financing for Development Office; and Programme Officer for International Economic Policy at the Ford Foundation in New York. He has held teaching and research posts at the East-West Centre, University of The Philippines, Institute for Developing Economies, UNU/WIDER, and Institute for Southeast Asian Studies. His recent publications have been in areas of macroeconomic policy, development strategy, income inequality, climate change financing and industrial policy. He holds a PhD in Economics from Stanford University.
Homepage/Poster image by JoshArdle via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)