EN VECON I R ONO ME N T AN ANDD SO URBAN ISSUEIE SS MIC C IAL STUD
Financing Human Development in Africa, Asia and the Middle East
World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014
This report presents the yearly assessment of global progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), determining the areas where progress has been made, and those that are lagging behind. It pinpoints the areas where accelerated efforts are needed to meet the MDGs by 2015. The report is based on a master set of data compiled by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on MDG indicators led by the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations.
The world is in the midst of profound social and economic change driven by the dynamic emerging powers of the developing world. The 2013 Human Development Report, “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World” analyzes this phenomenon in detail, examining the development strategies, policies and future prospects of more than 40 developing nations that experienced remarkably strong human development gains over the past two decades. This publication is the companion volume to the 2013 Report. It is an edited collection of nine original research papers commissioned during the writing of the 2013 report from some of the world’s most eminent economists, demographers and social scientists, representing different yet complementary disciplines in the field of human development.
This book assesses feasible financing strategies for policymakers to follow in pursuance of human development, taking as reference the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their achievement by 2015. These strategies are analyzed in the context of broader concerns of economic development with special reference to nine countries from Africa, Asia and the Middle East; that is, how to make macroeconomic policies support more effectively sustained growth while reducing widespread poverty and inequalities and other human development gaps in low- and middle-income countries, especially in times of global economic crises or external shocks. This book adds new evidence regarding the social deficits in these countries and suggests policy options to overcome them.
The World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) is the definitive report of the United Nations on the state of the world economy. One of the most highly anticipated economic reports from the United Nations, it is jointly produced by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the five United Nations Regional Commissions.
United Nations
September 2013 9789211012842 64pp $15.00
October 2013 9789211263657 376pp $25.00
Alternative Development Strategies for the Post-2015 Era The global economic crisis of 2008-2009 exposed systemic failings at the core of economic policymaking worldwide. The crisis came on top of several other crises, including skyrocketing and highly volatile world food and energy prices and climate change. This book argues that new policy approaches are needed to address such devastating global development challenges and avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences to livelihoods worldwide likely resulting from present approaches. The contributors to the book aim to identify a development strategy capable of promoting a broad-based economic recovery, guaranteeing social equity and environmental sustainability both within countries and internationally. This new development approach seeks to promote the reforms needed to improve global governance, providing a more equitable distribution of global public goods.
Spring Summer 2014
Although migration was not factored into the Millennium Development Goals (for which the target date nears in 2015), it plays an integral role in the most crucial development questions facing the world today, including: how to generate inclusive growth and create employment for a growing world population; how to manage new global risks, such as vulnerability to shocks and disasters, and adaptation to climate change; and how to mobilize financing for development in a world of decreasing aid budgets. This publication gathers recent research findings outlining the links between migration and development and proposing how migration can best be factored into the future development framework, offering a timely contribution to the argument for migration’s inclusion in the coming development agenda.
United Nations
This report argues that for African countries to reap developmental gains from intra-African trade and regional integration, they need to place the building of productive capacities and domestic entrepreneurship at the heart of the policy agenda for boosting intra-regional trade. It also analyzes the range of strategies and complementary policies that will be needed, besides trade policies, to ensure that regional integration enhances African enterprise development and economic development in general. It explores, among others, the role of national and regional industrial policy and the scope for developing regional development corridors. Lessons are drawn from other developmental regional experiences.
November 2013 9789211128666 154pp $28.00
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un.org/publications
January 2014 9789211128697 134pp $38.00
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E c o n o m i c &
The 2013 Report on World Social Situation: Inequality Matters brings attention to inequality, with a particular focus on policies and the disadvantaged social groups. Tracing recent trends, the Report shows that inequality matters not only for people living in poverty, but also for the overall wellbeing of society at large. The Report demonstrates that growing inequality is neither destiny nor a necessary price to pay for economic growth. It examines the experience of some countries that have defied the general trend and have managed to reduce inequality, showing that policies and institutions can make a difference. Domestic policies especially play a crucial role. The Report shows positive examples in some countries in reducing inequalities even under an uncertain and volatile global environment during the latest global economic and financial crises. The 2013 Report on World Social Situation follows the 2005 Report, which warned the world of an inequality predicament causing all to pay the price. The 2013 Report puts greater emphasis on the consequences of high inequality. A unique contribution of the 2013 Report is that it draws special attention to the challenges facing disadvantaged and marginalized social groups, pointing out that inequality is also an issue of social justice. People want to live in societies that are fair, where hard work is rewarded, and where one’s socioeconomic position can be improved regardless of one’s background. However, economic, social, political and cultural inequalities interact, generating persistent disadvantage among members of certain social groups which makes the reduction of inequality a more difficult and complex task. While the Report calls for policy approach to pay attention to the needs of marginalized social groups to achieve equality, it emphasizes that targeted intervention should not become a substitute for universal coverage. Built on positive examples of what can work and what has worked in different countries, the Report offers a series of key policy recommendations for consideration, illustrating that countries that have used redistributed fiscal policy measures, developed universal social protection programmes, with emphasis on education and health spending, and those that have increased labour market opportunities for those at the bottom, have better weathered the general trend towards growing within-country inequality. The analysis and policy conclusions contained in the Report seeks to provide useful inputs for the ongoing multi-shareholder consultations to elaborate the post-2015 global development agenda, and serve as a policy-making guide on social-economic issues.
Inequality Matters
A f f a i r s
International Organization for Migration
The Least Developed Countries Report 2013: Growth with Employment for Inclusive and Sustainable Development
Report on the World Social Situation 2013
United Nations publication ST/ESA/345 Sales No. 13.IV.2 ISBN: 978-92-1-130322-3 eISBN: 978-92-1-056503-5
Copyright © United Nations, 2013 All rights reserved
United Nations
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March 2014 9789211303223 128pp $35.00
United Nations
This publication contributes a nuanced appraisal of the potential role and value of cloud computing in developing and transition economies. It does so by looking at the current status of the cloud economy in developing countries, potential impacts and, building on these, elaborates on policy and regulatory approaches to facilitate adoption and use of the cloud in order to maximize gains from it. This is the first time a United Nations Secretariat report examines the implications of cloud computing for developing countries.
S o c i a l
Economic Development in Africa Report 2013: Intra-African Trade - Unlocking Private Sector Dynamism
January 2014 9789211091687 196pp $42.00
United Nations
This book analyzes the policies required to improve the perspectives of sustainable regional growth. It reviews the links between economic growth, investment and employment, as well as the fiscal and monetary policies, and industrial, trade and social policies relevant for short and long-term growth. Special attention is given to regional key issues such as structural heterogeneity, the high levels of inequality and the challenges of environmental sustainability. Additionally, the region’s economic evolution during the first semester of 2013 is analyzed in this survey.
October 2013 9789211218336 210pp $50.00
United Nations
Information Economy Report 2013: The Cloud Economy and Developing Countries
United Nations
Migration and the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda
October 2013 9789290686811 140pp $20.00
December 2013 9781780932200 328pp $38.00
Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2013: Three Decades of Uneven and Unstable Growth
United Nations
October 2013 9781472523259 456pp $38.00
United Nations
United Nations Development Programme
Tel: 1 703 661 1571
January 2014 9789211128642 150pp $50.00
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Report on the World Social Situation 2013: Inequality Matters
Industrial Development Report 2013: Sustaining Employment Growth The Role of Manufacturing and Structural Change
United Nations
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
The 2013 report examines key drivers of inequality that have emerged in the recent past and the impact of rising inequality. It examines trends in social, economic and spatial inequalities and assesses why inequality matters in order to propose policy solutions to this persistent problem, paying particular attention to the potential role of empowerment and participation. The report highlights inequalities within and across countries and shows the cumulative, mutually-reinforcing effects these inequalities have on the systematic lack of participation and disadvantage of some social groups and on the intergenerational transmission of poverty. It discusses the role of economic and political institutions in promoting participation and empowerment.
This publication analyses the employment challenge of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Demographic projections indicate that around 225 million people in LDCs will be entering the labour force until 2030. Hence, creating sufficient and decent employment opportunities for all will be a real challenge. However, recent experience shows that the link between growth and employment in LDCs is not automatic. The LDC Report 2013 aims to raise awareness and galvanize the attention of policymakers to the magnitude of the problem. It also reviews and analyses recent labour market performance of the LDCs, compares it with the future needs in relation to job creation, and elaborates concrete policy recommendations for growth with employment.
March 2014 9789211064513 250pp $57.00
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This book explores the underlying drivers of structural change in manufacturing. While manufacturing employment is growing in developing countries, its decrease in developed countries is being mitigated by the rise in manufacturing-related services employment. The food and beverages and textiles and garments industries offer least developed countries potential for industrialization, whereas high-tech industries hold numerous opportunities for developed countries to invest and innovate and to thus sustain jobs. The impact of the critical drivers of structural change and industrialization to sustain employment hinges on the industrial policies adopted, and will only be effective if the policy-making process plays as important a role as the policy content.
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E CO N O MIC AN D SO C IAL ST UD I ES
Human Progress and the Rising South
Inequality Matters
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013