The Unassuming Economist

From Daily Excelsior:

“Leaders from various Indian-American communities have applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his commitment to “inclusive growth” in India.

At the half-day Global Equity Alliance Summit, hosted at Washington Adventist University on Friday, the leaders said the minority communities in India has remained safe and secure under Modi’s governance.
The summit, held in association with the Indian Minorities Foundation and Chandigarh University, also saw the launch of the Association of American Indian Minorities. The initiative was launched against the backdrop of a series of attacks on Hindu temples in the US and Canada this year.

In recognition of Modi’s efforts towards inclusive development and minority welfare, the Washington Adventist University and the Association of American Indian Minorities honoured the Prime Minister with the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Global Peace Award for Minority Upliftment.
Chandigarh University Chancellor Satnam Singh Sandhu received the award on Modi’s behalf in his absence.

The association’s goal is to unite minorities in the country and work for the safety and security of Indian American minorities, according to the organisers here.”

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From a paper by Nauro F. Campos, Vera Z. Eichenauer, Jan-Egbert Sturm:

“The average unemployment rate in Europe has been consistently higher than in the United States since 1980. The main explanation offered by a rather large economics literature focuses on the interaction between institutions and shocks. The contribution of this paper is twofold: to assess whether this prevailing explanation still holds when we take into account recent shocks (globalisation, China, etc.) and time-varying labour market institutions; and to offer a decomposition (using the Shapley-Owen approach) of the relative contributions of shocks, institutions and their interactions. While our results confirm the general validity of the Shocks and Institutions Hypothesis, we argue that it is more complex and nuanced than originally formulated.”

From China Daily:

“The just-concluded G20 Summit marked a critical moment for global governance, and offered China a platform to share its vision of inclusive growth, equitable global governance and pragmatic cooperation. President Xi Jinping’s proposals at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, underscored China’s commitment to upgrade its efforts with the Global South in order to address pressing global challenges.

President Xi’s emphasis on the Global South was not just rhetoric but a genuine belief in making the global governance system fairer and more representative. By championing initiatives like the Initiative on International Cooperation in Open Science and pledging to increase imports from developing countries to $8 trillion by 2030, China reinforced its role as a partner of developing countries. The approach highlights China’s broader outlooks of global affairs: fostering South-South cooperation and amplifying the voices of emerging economies on the global stage.

Xi also outlined China’s eight actions for global development, which include expanding the Belt and Road Initiative, safeguarding food security and promoting international cooperation in science and technology. This aligns with the developmental goals of the Global South — the Chancay Port inaugurated just a few days before in the region serves as a good example.”

From an IMF blog by Paula Beltran Saavedra, Nicolas Fernandez-Arias, Chanpheng Fizzarotti, Alberto Musso:

“For most Group of Twenty economies, growth is poised to weaken over the next five years and remain well below what was typical in the two decades before the pandemic.

That’s one of the biggest shared challenges for the group, which accounts for about 85 percent of global gross domestic product. Growth is more robust across the African Union, which joined the G20 last year, but booming populations mean those economies also must create jobs for millions of young people entering the labor market.

For both groups, as well as the European Union, lifting growth is essential to improving outcomes for people, and there’s a common solution: implementing priority reforms can significantly boost prospects for growth over the next five years, or medium term, as our new report to the G20 outlines. Our analysis also indicates that payoffs from structural reforms are greatest when they are carefully sequenced and reflect social consensus.

Various challenges underscore why it’s time to invest in growth-enhancing reforms. Subdued productivity growth, reinforced in some countries by adverse demographic trends, holds back potential growth, as Chapter 3 of the April 2024 World Economic Outlook details. Sustainable growth also is imperiled by elevated public debt, and increased geoeconomic fragmentation and protectionism.

As the Chart of the Week shows, the biggest priority across countries in these groups is reforming fiscal policy frameworks to aid lasting consolidation of government budgets.”

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From a paper by Malihe Ashena:

“Considering the vital role of money demand in monetary and economic policies and its importance in economic stability, it is necessary to know the factors affecting it. Focusing on the increasing role of new technologies and financial developments, this paper examines the effect of financial development and the expansion of information and communication technology (ICT) on the demand for money in developing countries. This study uses principal component analysis (PCA) to calculate the ICT index. The research model is estimated using annual data obtained from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund during 2002-2021 for a selected group of developing countries. The long-run relationship between the variables has been investigated in a Panel-ARDL model. The research results show that ICT and financial development both have a negative and significant impact on money demand. These results point to the development of ICT infrastructure and financial resources to control money demand. In other words, increasing access to financial instruments and widespread use of ICT technologies has reduced the need to hold cash. These results indicate that structural changes in the economy of developing countries, caused by financial and technological growth, lead to changes in monetary behaviors. Therefore, policymakers should adopt strategies that can help adapting these developments and better manage money demand.”