Twenty years ago, economic planning and protectionism were held responsible for poverty and stagnation. Nowadays, the market that is blamed, not only for increased poverty and income inequality, but also for the dismantling of public services and ecological destruction. Yesterday’s solutions have become today’s problems.
Liberalization and privatization have left people and environment at the mercy of the free market. The mightiest are reaping the benefits, the weakest are footing the bill. Meanwhile, the global economy is being hit by one crisis after another: financial crises, an energy crisis, a food crisis – and of course the poorest countries and people are affected the most. In this volume current insights and sticky policy dilemmas will be identified, and their implications assessed for the policies of organizations and institutions in the field of international cooperation.
Contributors include: Rick van der Ploeg, Nancy Birdsall, Michael Spence, Diane Elson, Luc Soete, Martin Wolf, Edgardo Campos, Ad Melkert, Jan Kees de Jager, Shenggen Fan, Benno Ndulu, Alfredo Valladao, Vineet Rai, Alison Evans et al.