Self Discovery in Togo- Not binding?

Self-discovery refers to the process of identifying industries with potential but as of yet unrealized comparative advantage. Private entrepreneurs may be reluctant to accept the risks involved in developing new products or industries if they fear that others will quickly imitate their activity and eliminate the profits necessary to offset the initial investments and risks. Historical export data from the country in question, as well as in other countries at similar income levels, can be used to infer likely opportunities for export diversification and growth (Klinger and Lederman 2006, Hausmann et al. 2005, Hausmann and Klinger 2006, and Klinger and Lederman 2006). This literature uses the concept of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) over time, e.g. changes in export composition between different periods, to assess the dynamism of a country’s exports. Exports of particular commodities can also be assessed in terms of their growth potential, by examining the income levels of other countries that export this and similar products. That is, products typically exported by high-income countries are assumed to be more beneficial for generating growth than products typically exported by low-income countries.

The turnover in exports suggests that self-discovery is not a binding constraint to growth in Togo. About 20 percent of Togo’s exports comprising 31 product groups at the 3-digit SITC level have emerged only since 2000, suggesting that some innovation is taking place. Exports of this group have increased 14.5 percent between 1992-96 and 2002-06. The “implied income” associated with this export basket, when looking at other countries exporting the same products, was 30 percent above that of the traditional exports of Togo.

-Togo - Reviving the traditional sectors and preparing for the future : an export-led growth strategy - country economic memorandum

Top Power Books to Read

Here's the full list

The Joys of Stats

Top 100 Thinkers

The List from FP

Assorted

Battered but Not Beaten

The world health report - Health systems financing: the path to universal coverage

The Bulletin series: Health systems financing

Does efficient corruption pay?

WHO: 20 to 40 percent of money spent on health wasted, more funds needed to be wasted

Leadership is like dieting

She puts it this way: leadership is about "providing solutions to common problems or offering ideas about how to accomplish collective purposes, or mobilizing the energies of others to follow these courses of action." I'd describe this as creating the focal point for an organization in a multiple equilibrium game. Others might reach for the word "vision", although so many visions have proven mirages that one is suspicious of the word.

India Microcredit Faces Collapse From Defaults

The Instability of Moderation

Interest Bearing Notes November 2010

Why do policy makers care about this graph so much right now?

The Budget Deficit isn't a Math Problem

I once had a dream that I would come to Washington, DC and share my great ideas with the wise men and women in Congress. "Eureka!" they would reply. "Here is a Good Idea!" Time has solved that idealistic illusion. Congress knows the math. They can appreciate the many ways that 1 + 1 =/= 14,750,200,000,000 (the current U.S. GDP). If it were just a math problem, legislators would have solved it years ago. No, the addiction to a budget deficits is a Rules Problem. To solve it, the nation has to change the rules.

The Economist’s Human Potential Event

Follow the Gary Becker Decision Tree

Intelligence Economic Smarts

Winning the Lottery

Jobs at World Bank

Senior Governance Specialist, Leadership for Development Program
Closing Date 29-Nov-2010
Language Requirements English [Essential]; French [Essential]; Spanish [Essential]

Senior Public Sector Specialist
Closing Date 20-Dec-2010

Private Sector Development Off.
Closing Date 20-Dec-2010

Book Recommendations

Books that have influenced the Austrian Economist;


“Notes on Democracy” By H L Mencken: Wonderfully written. I have never enjoyed anything in the recent past than Mencken’s elitist views. I wonder why I never read him before. He has a deep contempt for the unthinking masses, which I happen to share. He writes, (on the common man): “A politician by instinct and a statesman by divine right, he has never heard of “The Republic” or “Leviathan.” A Feinschmecker of pornography, he is unaware of Freud.”

“How to Develop a Super Power Memory” by Harry Lorayne: I read it when I was 17 and just out of school. I owe my near-photographic memory to this book, among many others. It helped me realize that our mind has several powers which we don’t even know of.

For the Young Economist- Technique is Secondary

Glenn Loury on Peter Diamond;

Peter was an inspiration and role model for me during my student years at MIT. My encounters with him -- in the classroom and in his office -- left an indelible impression. I recall going over to the Dewey Library shortly after arriving in Cambridge, in the summer of 1972, and digging out Peter's doctoral dissertation. This was a mistake! Peter's reputation as a powerful theorist had been noted by my undergraduate teachers at Northwestern. I wanted to see how this reputed superstar had gotten his start. Just how good could it be, I wondered? I had no idea! What I discovered was an elegant, profound and exquisitely argued axiomatic treatment of the general problem of representing consumption preferences over an infinite time horizon, extending results obtained by his undergraduate teacher and the future Nobel Laureate, Tjallings Koopmans.

I prided myself on being a budding mathematician in those years. Yet, Peter's effortless mastery in that dissertation of the relevant techniques from topology and functional analysis, and his successful application of those methods to a problem of fundamental importance in economic theory -- all accomplished by age 23, younger than I was at the moment I held his thesis binder in my hands! – was simply stunning. This set what seem to me then, and still seems so now, to be an unapproachable standard. I was depressed for weeks thereafter!

Even more depressing was what I discovered as I got to know Peter better over the course of my first two years in the program: that mathematical technique was not even his strongest suit! An unerring sense of what constitute the foundational theoretical questions in economic science, and a rare creative gift of being able to imagine just the right formal framework in the context of which such questions can be posed and answered with generality -- this, I came to understand, is what Peter Diamond was really good at.

And so, I learned from him in those years what turned out to be the most important lesson of my graduate educational experience -- that, in the doing of economic theory and relative to the behavioral significance of the issue under investigation, technique is always a matter of secondary importance -- neither necessary nor sufficient for the production of lasting insights.

IMF Advice to Solomon Islands on Growth

Still the standard advice is more structural reforms;

The authorities’ acknowledge that further progress on the agenda of structural reform is needed to strengthen medium-term growth prospects. They intend to build on the steps taken to commercialize operations in stateowned enterprises; improve competitiveness, including the deregulation of telecommunications; and reduce the cost of doing business through revision of the legal framework.

In view of the adverse impact of the global economic downturn, the key objective of the authorities’ economic reform program is to establish a basis for resuming solid growth and reducing external vulnerability in a low-inflation environment, while advancing poverty alleviation efforts. To this end, the program seeks to strengthen the fiscal position, enhance monetary policy operations, and safeguard the domestic financial sector. By laying a strong macroeconomic foundation, the program is also expected to help catalyze additional donor support for the country.

Fiscal discipline will continue to serve as the main anchor for macroeconomic stability. Efforts will focus on rebuilding cash reserves mainly by strengthening revenue collection and prioritizing expenditure. Adopting a fiscal responsibility law and devising a proper resource tax regime would help enhance budget discipline, improve revenue transparency, and ensure a sustainable fiscal path.

“The current monetary stance is broadly appropriate, and sufficiently accommodative to support economic recovery. The program seeks to strengthen the operational framework of monetary policy and introduce new policy instruments to help banks manage liquidity, ensuring long-term price stability.

Binding Constraints for Growth in Solomon Islands

Interesting report on regenerating growth in Solomon Islands-

The report warns that examples of rapid and sustained economic growth globally are rare. The Pacific Island Countries face particular disadvantages, due to their small size and large distance to major markets. Solomon Islands may face especially severe constraints, as its scattered population reduces access to infrastructure and increases the costs of transport.

"Solomon Islands faces economic challenges, but growth prospects are reasonable if Solomon Islands plays to its existing advantages and capabilities," said Doug Porter, who led the study.

The report states that prospects for economic development in Solomon Islands will be significantly improved if four key potential sources of growth are prioritized. These areas include:

-Increasing productivity in agricultural production, on which most Solomon Islanders will continue to rely
-Ensuring that major natural resource industries - including mining and tourism – are well regulated, so that benefits flow to Solomon Islanders
-Increasing labor mobility, with Solomon Islanders having increased opportunities to acquire skills and incomes from work in Australian, New Zealand and other overseas economies.
-Improving the administration of aid, with more predictable flows of resources and capacity, with mutual accountability for results.
According to the report, economic growth is likely to be concentrated in urban centers, areas of high agricultural production, and areas with natural resource potential.

"However benefits can be shared throughout the country if efforts are made to connect rural populations to urban markets, and carefully target investment in services and infrastructure where economic activity and population are concentrated," said Doug Porter.

Related:
Solomon Islands Sources of Growth
Key Findings Summary

EXCEL Tip of the Day

Summing with error terms:

If you use the normal SUM formula, you will get #N/A. To find out the total of the values, you have to use the SUMIF formula =SUMIF(B2:B10,"<>#N/A"), assuming that the range is from B2 to B10

Assorted Reports

2010 Human Development Report

Land, Environment and Climate Change; Challenges, responses and Tools

Urban Land Markets:Economic Concepts and Tools for engaging in Africa

State of the World Population 2010: from conflict and crisis to renewal: generations of change

Measuring the Information Society

Information Economy Report 2010: ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation

Economic Diversification in Africa: A Review of Selected Countries

World Economic Outlook : Recovery, Risk and Rebalancing October 2010

Trends in Sustainable Development – Small Island Developing States 2010-2011

2010 World Social Science report

eAtlas of the Millennium Development Goals

Financial Access Report 2010: the state of financial inclusion through the crisis

Charting the progress of the millennium development goals in the Arab Region: a statistical portrait

2010 Global Education Digest

Trade and Development Report 2010: Employment, globalization and development

World Trade Report 2010: Trade in natural resources


Global Employment Trends for Youth 2010

World Investment Report 2010:Investing in a low-carbon economy

Land Inventory in Botswana: Processes and Lessons

Philippines - Study on agribusiness, infrastructure, and logistics for growth in Mindanao : policy note

Poland - Public land and property asset management in Warsaw : strategic opportunities

Afghanistan - Scoping strategic options for development of the Kabul River Basin : a multisectoral decision support system approach

China - Concessionary financing programs for the water and sanitation sector : policy note

Effective discipline with adequate autonomy : the direction for further reform of China's SOE dividend policy

Syrian Arab Republic - Electricity sector strategy note

Niger - Towards an integrated and sustainable pension system

Solomon Islands growth prospects : constraints and policy priorities

Vietnam development report 2010 : modern institutions

Cambodia - Sustaining rapid growth in a challenging environment : country economic memorandum

Tunisia - Development policy review : towards innovation-driven growth


Education, training, and labor market outcomes for youth in Indonesia

Pakistan - City development strategy for Peshawar

Serbia - Right-sizing the government wage bill

Malaysia economic monitor : repositioning for growth

Peru - Rethinking private sector participation in infrastructure

South Africa - Enhancing the effectiveness of government in promoting mcro, small and medium enterprise

Strengthening Caribbean pensions : improving equity and sustainability

Kosovo - Youth in jeopardy : being young, unemployed, and poor in Kosovo - a report on youth employment in Kosovo

Armenia - Public financial management reform priorities

Book Recommendation- Growth and Natural Resource exploitation

Scarcity and Frontiers-How Economies Have Developed Through Natural Resource Exploitation
Edward B. Barbier, University of Wyoming

Throughout much of history, a critical driving force behind global economic development has been the response of society to the scarcity of key natural resources. Increasing scarcity raises the cost of exploiting existing natural resources and creates incentives in all economies to innovate and conserve more of these resources. However, economies have also responded to increasing scarcity by obtaining and developing more of these resources. Since the agricultural transition over 12,000 years ago, this exploitation of new 'frontiers' has often proved to be a pivotal human response to natural resource scarcity. This book provides a fascinating account of the contribution that natural resource exploitation has made to economic development in key eras of world history. This not only fills an important gap in the literature on economic history but also shows how we can draw lessons from these past epochs for attaining sustainable economic development in the world today.

iSimulate

Some cool new stuff from the World Bank.


iSimulate is a platform for performing collaborative economic simulations across the Internet.

ADePT
ADePT was developed to automate and standardize the production of analytical reports. ADePT uses the micro-level data from various types of surveys, such as Household Budget Surveys, Demographic and Health Surveys, Labor Force surveys and others to produce rich sets of tables and graphs for a particular area of economic research.

PovcalNet
PovcalNet is an interactive computational tool that allows you to replicate the calculations made by the World Bank's researchers in estimating the extent of absolute poverty in the world