Poor countries will remain vulnerable to external shocks from export prices or from natural disasters for some time. Indeed, the lowest income countries have an even higher incidence of such adverse events than other developing countries and tend to suffer larger damages when they occur.

Cancelling of poor-country debt does not mean that the best way to give aid is through grants only. Aid through loans may often prove superior, provided that it maintains debt sustainability. A new scheme for soft loans is suggested, with higher interest rates and cancellation provisions if bad...

<ul> <li>Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; Korea and Singapore (the East Asian Newly Industrialised Countries or NICs) have been successful in attaining income convergence with high-income countries while Latin American countries remain caught in the Middle-Income Trap.</li> <li>The East Asian NICs pursued...</li></ul>

<ul> <li>There is no unique model of reform for infrastructure that is equally applicable to all countries.</li> <li>Fixed-line privatisation has often failed due to weak economic and institutional endowments.</li> <li>Governments and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) should consider alternative options to...</li></ul>

<ul><li>ASEAN countries should play a more active role in the international standard-setting process for carbon labelling.</li> <li>Fragmented, bottom-up approaches to carbon labelling may lead to a proliferation of different labelling schemes, acting as a constraint to ASEAN exports.</li> <li>Carbon labelling should be...</li></ul>

Over the last five years, most Latin American governments have made considerable strides in managing the composition of their public debt, while reducing their foreign-currency exposure. Issuing public debt in local currency is not new for Latin America; what is new, however, is the widespread...

The idea of local “ownership” of development policies is now popular among the donor community, but without a reduction of conditionality on aid disbursements, enhanced ownership will be difficult to achieve. While there are still strong reasons for attaching certain kinds of conditionality...

Political and social troubles worsened in 2007, but the long term trend is positive. Progress towards democracy continues, despite some severe setbacks. Democratic institutions need to foster dialogue and social cohesion.

The “raw materials curse” is far from being an inevitability, as shown by Norway and Chile. Both examples offer valuable lessons to developing countries on how to sensibly manage mining and oil resources. Following Norway’s example, Chile could build upon its experience and become a key...