The countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have opened up their economies to the world economy as a step towards a profound transformation from plan to market. Some have fully integrated into the European market while others have not. This book focuses on the challenges economies face when in transition.

This volume brings together new contributions from renowned academic scholars, from experts on economies in transition and from the United Nations, the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as other international agencies. It aims to answer fundamental questions and spell out policy options to address the challenges for economies in transition. The volume includes comparative studies focusing on all transition economies, including Central and Eastern Europe, as well as regions such as Western Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

"This volume brings together new contributions from renowned academic scholars, from experts on economies in transition and from the United Nations, the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as other international agencies. It aims to answer fundamental questions and spell out policy options to address the challenges for economies in transition. The volume includes comparative studies focusing on all transition economies, including Central and Eastern Europe, as well as regions such as Western Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States."--Publisher's description.

Substantial progress in the fight against extreme poverty was made in the last two decades. But the slowdown in global economic growth and significant increases in income inequality in many developed and developing countries raise serious concerns about the continuation of this trend into the 21st century. The time has come to seriously think about how improvements in official global governance, coupled with and reinforced by rising activism of 'global citizens' can lead to welfare-enhancing and more equitable results for global citizens through better national and international policies. This book examines the factors that are most likely to facilitate the process of beneficial economic growth in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. It examines past, present, and future economic growth; demographic changes; the hyperglobalization of trade; the effect of finance on growth; climate change and resource depletion; and the sense of global citizenship and the need for global governance in order to draw longer-term implications, identify policy options for improving the lives of average citizens around the world, and make the case for the need to confront new challenges with truly global policy responses. The book documents how demographic changes, convergence, and competition are likely to bring about massive shifts in the sectoral and geographical composition of global output and employment, as the center of gravity of the global economy moves toward Asia and emerging economies elsewhere. It shows that the legacies of the 2008-09 crisis-high unemployment levels, massive excess capacities, and high debt levels-are likely to reduce the standard of living of millions of people in many countries over a long period of adjustment and that fluctuations in international trade, financial markets, and commodity prices, as well as the tendency of institutions at both the national and international level to favor the interests of the better-off and more powerful pose substantial risks for citizens of all countries. The chapters and their policy implications are intended to stimulate public interest and facilitate the exchange of ideas and policy dialogue.

Abstract: June 1999 - Do globalization and national development reinforce each other? Are they mutually compatible? What opportunities for national development does globalization open? What problems does it pose? What is the proper balance between national, regional, and global responses to the challenges posed by globalization? Globalization offers developing countries the opportunities to create wealth through export-led growth, to expand international trade in goods and services, and to gain access to new ideas, technologies, and institutional designs. But globalization also entails problems and tensions that must be appropriately managed. For one thing, global business cycles can contribute greatly to macroeconomic volatility at the national level. The scope and severity of crises in Mexico (1994-95), Asia (1997), Russia (1998), and Brazil (1999) suggests the severity of the financial vulnerability developing countries face nowadays. With financial markets so highly integrated, problems are transmitted rapidly from one country to another. The rapid transmission of financial shocks changes levels of confidence and affects exchange rates, interest rates, asset prices, and, ultimately, output and employment-with consequent social effects. Policymakers should also be concerned about how globalization exacerbates job instability and income disparities both within and across countries. Macroeconomic and financial crises, by increasing poverty and social tensions, can be political destabilizing. As the 20th century ends, the resources of Bretton Woods institutions are strained because of the large and complex rescue packages needed to deal with large-scale volatility. Development policy agendas in the era of globalization need to articulate traditional concerns with growth, stability, and social equity with new themes such as transparency and good governance at several levels: national, regional, and global. This paper-a product of the Country Management Unit, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela-is part of a larger effort in the region to understand the links between globalization and national development. The author may be contacted at [email protected].

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.

"In the US, in Europe, and throughout the world, globalization, in tandem with technological progress, has left a massive number of people behind, feeling dispossessed, disenfranchised, and angry. Leading the charge of "hyperglobalization" during the second half of the last century, and enforcing the Western framework of austerity in the developing world has been the International Monetary Fund. Along with the World Bank and WTO, many consider the IMF one of the most consequential institutions to have pushed the world economy blindly towards excessive globalization, while not adequately considering its powerful negative consequences. In October 2017, however, the IMF convened with some of the world's most celebrated economists and experts on trade and globalization to have an honest discussion on the most pressing concerns the world faces today as a result of globalization, and how to address the extensive challenges it has created. Edited by chief economist Maurice Obstfeld and senior economist Luis Catao of the IMF, the book brings together a team of respected senior economists with the most promising younger scholars to address five major themes: how globalization affects economic growth and social welfare; potential political implications of an honest discussion of globalization, and that "free trade may not be politically viable"; free trade's role in global inequality; how workers adjust or not when they're dislocated by globalization; and how trade policy influences the way countries develop their economies and societies. The book could represent a historic milestone at which the world's top economists and policymakers have an unprecedented, honest debate about the real costs and consequences of globalization"--