Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics--Europe 2005 : Are We on Track to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals?

Bourguignon, Franç ; ois ; Pleskovic, Boris ; Sapir, André

Washington, DC:World Bank and Oxford University Press

关键词: AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES;    AGRICULTURE;    AID;    AID ALLOCATION;    AID FLOWS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/0-8213-6019-1
RP-ID  :  34412

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This Sixth Annual World Bank Conferenceon Development Economics, one of the world's best-knownseries of conferences, aims at the presentation, anddiscussion of new knowledge on development. The theme of theconference was "Doha, Monterrey, and Johannesburg: AreWe on Track to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)?" The conference provides a forum for theworld's leading development thinkers to share newknowledge, and ideas. This Conference was designed to lookat how four flows (flows of people, capital, aid, and trade)link developed and developing countries. Discussions shownot only where some of the main opportunities are in each ofthese four areas, but also where the main blockages are, andwhat the real risks are-both when flows accelerate, and whenflows dry up. Notably, it was argued that developedcountries should have the courage to push globalizationfurther: Europe, like the United States, is protectionist,and as long as it stays that way, there can be no real freetrade on the global level. It was proposed a politicalcounterpart to what exists on the economic level be created,i.e., to replace the G-8 of rich countries, with a G-8 oflocal and regional groups. Such a G-8 would grant alegitimate place to the South, and could serve as a forumfor consultation among various continental structures -African Union, Mercosur, the European Union, the Associationof Southeast Asian Nations, and the North American FreeTrade Agreement. Such a G-8 would not only contribute toimproved relations between various parties, but would alsoencourage various regions to intensify their cooperation.Similarly, the creation within the United Nations of anEconomic, Social, and Environmental Security Council wasproposed, which would form the new framework forglobalization, thus monitor implementation of conclusionsfrom large conferences, and, coordinate the majorinternational institutions such as the World TradeOrganization, International Labor Organization,International Monetary Fund, and World Bank. Redistributionthrough official development assistance is extremelylimited, and it is cancelled out by rich countries'restrictions that limit poor countries' market access.It is argued that the objective of aid is not toredistribute income today, in order to increase immediateconsumption; the objective is to transfer growth potentialfrom rich countries to poor countries. Trade flows, capitalflows, and migration flows could also be seen as influencingthe growth potential of the poorest countries. Maximizingthis potential is essential for a future unambiguous,improvement in the world distribution of income.Furthermore, an alternative way forward for the Doha Roundis presented, based on the principles of social justice andeconomic analysis. The World Trade Organization (WTO) needsto establish a source of impartial, and publicly availableanalysis of the effects of various initiatives on different countries.