Postcrisis Growth and Development: A Development Agenda for the G-20: Overview
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developing countries. In chapter 1, SaKong echoes the point acknowledged during the Pittsburgh summit that the G-20 must have the support of the 160+ United Nations member countries that are not members of the group to maintain the legitimacy and credibility of the body. He emphasizes that it is necessary to have a realistic and pragmatic approach to development to gain support for the development agenda in the G-20, as well as help the world regain economic stability. In chapter 2, Okonjo-Iweala highlights the fact that economic resilience in emerging economies and low-income countries is vital to achieving the G-20’s goal of rebalancing the global economy, given that nearly half of global growth comes from developing countries. To enhance this resilience, she advocates strongly for international efforts directed at closing development gaps and at implementing growth-oriented policies that will benefit developing countries and pull the world out of the crisis. A Global Economy with Multiple Poles of Growth The main message of chapter 3, by Justin Yifu Lin, is that support of stronger multipolar growth in developing countries should be seen as an important and integral element of the global recovery and strong, sustainable, and balanced growth in the global economy. Lin develops three main points in support of his argument. First, the recovery from the global financial crisis masks wide variation in postcrisis economic performance across countries. During the current crisis, high-income countries’ growth relied significantly on government policies. Over the medium term, however, high-income countries will need to rely on the growth of middle- and low-income countries to stimulate their exports. This interdependence and the spillovers between developed and developing countries will become even more important as the developed countries unwind their stimulus packages. Second, developing countries have the potential to become engines of global growth, as multiple poles emerge as centers of regional growth. Conditions for strengthening these growth poles need to be improved, however. The following findings give evidence of the emergence of these multiple poles of growth:
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Developing-country GDP growth has been higher than that of highincome countries every year from 2000 to 2008. This phenomenon has not been restricted to a single country or region: every region of
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