It is now more than a year since the sub-prime lending crisis in the US mortgage sector came to light. The unprecedented and still unfolding financial crisis in the developed world brings with it the end of the illusion of the market being “efficient”. This is the time for a fundamental rethinking on financial liberalisation in order to reduce systemic and global instability. This section presents papers and articles that seek to explain the causes and consequences of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. Through a critique of the underlying structure and dynamics of deregulated finance, they analyse how this crisis has led to a generalized credit crunch in other financial sectors, which ultimately affects the real economy and the world economy at large. They also offer important policy suggestions on the way forward.

(Updated on October 30, 2008.)

International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs) organised a two day conference on 'The Value of Money in Contemporary Capitalism' in New Delhi on 12th and 13th of September. The conference was meant to address issues around the role of money in contemporary capitalism, in both national and international contexts. The starting point was a new book by Prof. Prabhat Patnaik entitled “The Value of Money”. The book provides a logical critique of monetarism, which has become the dominant stream of contemporary macroeconomics. The first part of the conference focused on a consideration and assessment of the arguments made in the book, at both theoretical and empirical levels. The second part of the conference was devoted to analyses of recent tendencies in money, finance and real economies in particular countries and in the world economy.

In spite of some downturn in food prices, it seems that the global food crisis is here to stay. FAO projections for 2008-2017 show much higher decadal prices for food than the decade just past. This puts under threat the poor in developing countries and make the millennium goals that much more unattainable. While supply and demand mismatches may turn out to be short run factors, the sheer price volatility in food markets show that the role of speculation cannot be ignored. The emergence of biofuels also poses a threat to global food security. However, the long run policy neglect of agriculture in developing countries and a warped policy approach to liberalise trade at whatever cost to domestic food sufficiency remain the basic crux of the matter.

This is a set of papers which covers theoretical and empirical research on the issue of inflation targeting. The papers specifically cover various outcomes of inflation targeting as well the controversies, exploring alternative approaches, methodologies and solutions. While the impact on employment remains a primary concern of the papers, other specific issues which have been covered are; employment costs of inflation reduction in developing countries from a gender perspective, looking at the nature of inflation targeting from a class based social perspective, a comparison of inflation targeting and real exchange rate targeting in affecting economic growth and employment. In addition, country specific studies on the impact of inflation targeting and alternatives in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, India, Vietnam, and Philippines are included.

This IDEAs conference was held to mark the completion of a decade since the onset of the financial crises of 1997 in several East Asian Countries. The crisis, whose effects are still visible, focused attention on the dangers associated with a world dominated by fluid finance. This particular conference was concerned with delineating the alternative trajectories of post-crisis development in different economies, the lessons they offer and their implications they have for alternative policies.

The theme of IDEAs' Beijing Conference 2007 is particularly relevant as the recent decades have thrown up interesting dilemmas for the developing world in terms of experiencing economic growth coupled with increases in income inequality and inadequate reduction of poverty. The conference therefore focussed on the extent and nature of growth in developing economies, particularly in Asia. It explored the extent to which the growth process has been related to shifts in underlying economic structures with adverse impacts on poverty and inequality, or to policy paradigms, both domestic and external, which have created these contradictions within the growing developing world. The impact on livelihood and employment patterns, sectoral shifts in investment, production, and incomes, the impact on human development and gender are all sought to be studied in detail.

IDEAs international conference titled 'Sustainable Employment Generation in Developing Countries: Current Constraints and Alternative Strategies' in Memory of Guy Mhone was held in Nairobi, Kenya in association with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi and Action Aid during 25-27 January, 2007. The conference focussed on the issue of productive employment generation in developing countries in the given context of trade liberalisation and more constrained state spending in crucial areas, both of which have been associated with greater economic concentration and slow growth of productive employment and income opportunities.

• China as a 'Model' of Utilizing Foreign Capital for Economic Development:Perceptions, Observations and Interpretations
  Dic Lo
  
• China's Economic Growth, 1978-2005: Structural Change and Institutional Attributes
  Dic LO & LI Guicai