ABCDE 2011: Broadening opportunities for development

With almost 700 registered participants, the 2011 Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) will take place in Paris from 30 May to 1 June 2011, co-hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the French Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Industry, and the World Bank.

ABCDE is the world’s best-known conference for the presentation and discussion of new knowledge on development economics. The conference aims at promoting the exchange of ideas among researchers, policymakers, and students interested in development issues.  The overall theme of  this year’s conference is Broadening Opportunities for Development and the specific sub-themes are inequity, job creation, youth, social protection and gender equity.

A series of online platforms and channels have been set up to broaden the conversations beyond the face-to-face meeting in Paris:

GDNet will be working with the conference communication team to highlight Southern voices and institutions and areas of interest to GDN.

Whither macro-prudential policies after the crisis?

The session, Financial Crisis and the role of Macro-Prudential Policies, sponsored by the World Bank Institute, focused on the role of macro-prudential policies, regulation and financial supervision in the post-crisis scenario. As was proven by the emergence of the crisis, traditional macro-prudential regulations were insufficient; hence, there is room for discussion of new and innovative approaches that may help to achieve financial stability.

The session showcased various innovative viewpoints on prudential policies to deal with the adverse changes in macroeconomic and financial conditions, as well as systemic risk. The session highlighted the determinants and tools that can be used for identifying, analysing and curtailing the next possible financial crisis. The panellists represented both national Central Banks and International Financial Institutions (IFIs).

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Financing development in a post-conflict world: The new agenda

Panel plenary session 1 - Financing development in a post-crisis world: The new agenda

Panel plenary session 1 - Financing development in a post-crisis world: The new agenda

The panelists in the first Plenary Session of GDN’s 12th Annual Conference agreed that financing has become widely available for developing countries in the past few years, and that the main issue has become how to allocate it.

Francois Bourguignon, Director of the Paris School of Economics, claimed that financing has increased significantly in the last years and the main issue has become finding the most suitable finance scheme to maximize social return and avoid a poverty trap. Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Chief Economist of the Financial and Private Sector Network in the World Bank, pointed out that there are some undesirable effects of having such a wide availability of financing, including the irresponsible expansion of access to credit. But at the same time, she acknowledged that financial systems, and financing in general, are still crucial to developing economies because they underpin economic development. She suggested that in order to attain sustainability, the State must play a clear and defined role and that regulations have to be well formulated and enforced.

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Professor Ernest Aryeetey: The Rise of the New Philanthropy

By Jermeen El-Baroudy

Professor Ernest Aryeetey has confirmed he will be keynote speaker at plenary of GDN conference in Bogota. Publisher of 3 books, 5 edited volumes, 32 journal articles and many working and discussion papers, Professer Arteeyey is very well known for his work on informal finance and microfinance in Africa.

During the conference Professer Aryeetey will be speaking about “Innovative Sources of Development Finance and the Rise of the New Philanthropy”.

His focus of work is know to be around the economics of development with interest in institutions and their role in development, regional integration, economic reforms, financial systems in support of development and small enterprise development.

Winner of the prestigious Michael Bruno Award of the World Bank, July 2010 Aryeetey added another starring point in his CV when he assumed Office as New Vice-Chancellor of University of Ghana.

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Assessing Participatory Development: Reflections from the World Bank

GDN 2010 Conference: Parellel sessionParticipation has become a ‘buzz’ word strongly associated with varying forms of governance. In the development field participatory approaches to decision-making have emerged in part as a consequence of governments’ failure to get funds and services to the most poor and vulnerable. Participation through community engagement attempts to place the emphasis on ‘the people on the ground’, the poor and vulnerable who are often excluded from the process of identifying their own needs.

The session ‘Participatory Development: Assessing the Evidence on Policy and Practice’ offered representatives from the World Bank’s Development Research Group and associated scholars the opportunity to discuss the current ‘state of play’ in terms of participatory approaches and how they are assessed. The topic was framed by the World Bank’s policy research report entitled Localising Development: Challenges of Policy and Practice. Read more of this post

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