Joint Government of Kazakhstan - UNCTAD lunch event "50 Years of development: What have we learned?"

Moderator:

• Mr. Charles GORE, Honorary Professor of Economics, University of Glasgow

Speakers:

• Dr. Supachai PANITCHPAKDI, Secretary-General of UNCTAD
• Mr. Joe STUDWELL, Freelance writer, journalist, and author of How Asia Works
• A Government representative of Kazakhstan (invited)
• H.E. Mr. Miguel CARBO BENITES, Ambassador of Ecuador; Chair of the Group of 77 and China in Geneva (invited)

Background:

The immediate causes of the financial crash of 2008 are found in weaknesses of the global financial system, and particularly in perverse incentives for risk-taking, lax regulation, and misunderstood financial innovations. However, at a deeper level, both the financial crisis and subsequent global recession are rooted in contradictions in the global development trajectory, most notably the increasing financialization of the global economy and massive and persistent income inequality on a global scale.

The most recent data show that the poorest 60 per cent of the world’s population receive just 10 per cent of the world’s income, and that about 80 per cent of the world’s population live on incomes which, when adjusted for purchasing power parity, are well below the United States poverty line. However, over the past 50 years, some countries have been able to achieve sustained economic development, transforming themselves from poor agrarian economies into dynamic industrial economies.

Drawing lessons from success stories has been part of UNCTAD’s mission over the last half-century.

Issues for discussion:

1. What are the key ingredients of development success, focusing in particular on the importance of productive capacities, policy space and political will?
2. What are the blockages to the wider adoption and adaptation of successful development models by a wider set of countries?
3. How must the ingredients for success be adapted in the new global context – elements of which include ever-deepening global interdependence, the increasing influence of some large successful developing economies, the emergence of new technologies, and ecological overload?