UN DESA | DPAD | Development Policy Analysis Division
What's New
16 May 2013
Commodity prices decline as global trade remains weak
Highlights of the Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), No. 54
- The ECB cuts interest rates, returning to conventional monetary policy
- Economic momentum weakens in East Asia; another interest rate cut in India
15 May 2013
A slowdown in US labour productivity growth: cyclical or secular?
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, labour productivity—measured by non-farm business output per man-hour—increased at an annualized rate of 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, after a decline of 1.7 per cent in the previous quarter. For the 15 quarters since the economy started to recover from the most recent recession, the average growth of labour productivity is 1.5 per cent, which is much lower than the average growth for the past recoveries.
13 May 2013
DPAD conducts training workshop in Honduras
On 7-10 May 2013 in Tegucigalpa, DPAD, in collaboration with UNDP-Honduras provided practical training for government experts in the use of modeling tools needed for development policy analysis and methods for assessing human development strategies aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
8 May 2013
GCC sovereign wealth funds: leveraging local economic development?
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) grew rapidly over the last few years, nurtured by high oil prices. Gulf countries currently possess 14 different SWFs endowed with more than $1.8 trillion. These funds pursue multiple purposes and investment strategies in ways that are still somewhat opaque. Most of them remain under the control of ruling families owning oil resources and managing state affairs.
29 April 2013
Inter-temporal macroeconomic trade-offs and payoffs of human development strategies
Marco V. Sánchez, Economic Affairs Officer in the Development Strategy and Policy Analysis Unit of DPAD, presented a background paper, co-written with Martin Cicowiez, at the Development Policy Seminar held on April 23. The presentation focused on the drivers of potential, medium- to long-run economic gains from past human development investments in pursuance of the MDGs. These gains have been quantified through policy analyses, drawing on a computable general equilibrium model for four developing countries: Bolivia, Costa Rica, Uganda and Yemen.
9 April 2013
Renewed concerns about banking fragility in the euro area
Highlights of the Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), No. 53
- Capital inflows into emerging markets gain momentum
- The Bank of Japan discloses its new monetary stance which is beyond market expectations
- United States housing market strengthens further
26 March 2013
A renewed global partnership for development
The global partnership for development, as crystallized in Millennium Development Goal 8, has played a crucial role in galvanizing international support for development. Given the global challenges at hand there is an urgent need for true collective action from all countries to create an enabling environment for development at all levels. A renewed global partnership for development, which is broader in scope and deeper than the current one, is needed to underpin any post-2015 development agenda.
Read the latest report of the UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda which provides a set of recommendations on the global partnership for development in the post-2015 era.
11 February 2013
The Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Ms. Shamshad Akhtar, presented the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013 (WESP) report in a briefing to a meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today in New York. The report outlines the state of the world economy, the issues that are restraining global growth and the policy challenges that will need to be overcome to move towards a sustainable growth path. The session was chaired by the President of the Council, His Excellency Néstor Osorio (Colombia), and was well received by the representatives of the member states.
7 February 2013
Development Policy Seminar Series
“Will the Poor be ‘Always With Us’? Global Growth, Distribution and the Prospects for Poverty Eradication in a Carbon-Constrained World” presented by David Woodward on Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 10.30 to 12:30 a.m. 27th floor Conference Room in the Secretariat building (S-2725BR). David Woodward is currently an independent writer and researcher, based in the Netherlands.
5 February 2013
DPAD conducts final training workshop in Nicaragua
On 22-25 January 2013 in Managua, DPAD provided practical training for government experts on the use of modelling tools needed to evaluate policies and strategies, including spending and financing options for attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the effect of external shocks on the economy and the MDGs. The workshop is the latest in a series of activities conducted in Nicaragua under the project "Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling".
1 February 2013
DPAD presents results of training in Costa Rica
On 28 January 2013 in San José, members of Costa Rica's technical national team participating in capacity development activities presented policy notes to government officials of that country. The notes present assessments of policy issues of national relevance and are the result of the activities led by DESA/DPAD, UNDP and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Policy of Costa Rica. The notes will be released as part of a single official policy bulletin of the Government in the coming weeks.
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