Economic growth in low income countries: How the G20 can help to raise and sustain it

This paper aims to operationalise the G20 commitment to ensure that the benefits of global growth are shared with Low Income Countries. Growth is central to poverty reduction and the achievement of MDGs, and in developing countries it is episodic and volatile. However, while the current LICs have poor growth histories, the countries that started off the 1960s as LICs have had virtually the same average growth rates as other country groups. We review the evidence connecting long-run growth and growth accelerations and collapses to six areas of policy: trade, skills development, macro-stability, financial development, infrastructure investment and human development. Growth strategies have to be developed and owned by LIC governments and societies and they need to be tailored to individual country needs. However, there are some things which the G20 can do to help. We group these actions under three headings: mitigating downturns, boosting underlying growth rates and developing institutions and knowledge. A final annex describes how Korea’s spectacular growth strategy can be viewed through these lenses.growth, low income countries, G20

Time Factors in Policy Performance: The Korean Governments Economic Crisis Management in 2008

This paper assesses the Korean governments management of the recent economic crisis by focusing on time factors. The events that occurred from March 2008 to October 2009 and the governments corrective actions are interpreted through a time lens that accounts for the temporal constraints in terms of objective time as well as perceptive time. These two time domains have significant effects on the management of public policies, especially economic policies that require government interventions that affect the complex interactions of economic factors from both the fiscal policy and market perspectives. In order to illustrate the importance of long-term strategy, this study reviews the evolution of the economic situation following the onset of the financial crisis. Our retrospective analysis does not find that the Lee Myung-Bak government deployed strategies relevant for the long term, but rather that President Lees authoritarian attitude itself may help him fuel the economy for a long time. Regardless of the causes, this case emphasizes the need for consistency in policy making, especially when the policy areas particularities require it.This was supported by Seoul National University Foundation in 2009