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Brian G. Dowling

MIT World » : The U.S. and the World's Recession - 0 views

mitworld.mit.edu/595

economicpolicy economics mdgs mit recession

shared by Brian G. Dowling on 06 Oct 08 - Cached
  • Some of Rigobon’s findings: In Chile, when the price of wheat goes up by 10%, the price of bread goes up by 5% 18 months later. In Colombia and Peru, it takes three years for this same percentage increase to occur, with these countries taking longer “to digest the international shock of commodity prices.” Not only do the prices of bread, cookies, meat, chicken, move in lockstep with wheat, but in some cases, so do housing, health and education. But Rigobon found that when the international price of oil increases, there is an immediate impact on all products related to oil. What’s worse, when the price of oil increases, the price of gas at the pump or for a rental car goes up disproportionately.
  • It’s been true for years, notes Rigobon, that “oil is unconditionally negatively correlated with cereals.” If oil is up, maize, sorghum and wheat prices are down. But this has recently changed, a sign “of the unique times we’re in, the policy challenges we’re facing.” We are simultaneously facing recession (due in large part to the sub-prime mortgage crisis), and inflation, in both food and oil prices. Central banks, he notes with scorn and wonderment, don’t include food and energy in their calculations of “core inflation.” If the job of these banks and government is to take care of their citizens, they must respond to this crisis along the lines of the response to 9/11 or Enron. Rigobon endorses well-communicated, transparent policies, and some tough measures like interest rate increases.
  • Brian G. Dowling on 06 Oct 08
     
    How we measure a problem will influence how we define that problem.
  • Brian G. Dowling on 06 Oct 08
     
    This is not directly related to the Millennium Development Goals, but the current state of the world's economy will have a direct impact on implementing those goals. It also has a relationship with concepts such as PSRP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers). One interesting fact, Central Banks do not include food or energy in their inflation measurements which impact the poor more than the rich.
Brian G. Dowling

Homepage | GirlUp | United Nations Foundation | Uniting Girls to Change the World - 1 views

www.girlup.org

girlup United Nations mdgs

shared by Brian G. Dowling on 02 Jun 10 - Cached
  • Brian G. Dowling on 02 Jun 10
     
    United Nations addresses these issues particular to girls across the globe with the launch of GirlUp, a campaign that "gives American girls the opportunity to channel their energy and compassion to raise awareness and funds for programs of the United Nations that help some of the world's hardest-to-reach adolescent girls." According to the campaign's website, "girls have the opportunity to become educated, healthy, safe, counted, and positioned to be the next generation of leaders."
Brian G. Dowling

Launching International Year of Youth, UN urges dialogue, respect across generations - 0 views

www.un.org/...story.asp

mdg2 United Nations youth

shared by Brian G. Dowling on 29 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Brian G. Dowling on 29 Aug 10
     
    12 August 2010 - The International Year of Youth kicked off today with calls from United Nations officials to harness the talents and energy of the world's young people to promote better understanding and dialogue between different generations, cultures and religions.
Brian G. Dowling

South Asia - The End of Poverty - 0 views

web.worldbank.org/...46830~theSitePK:223547,00.html

poverty mdg mdgs Asia

shared by Brian G. Dowling on 28 Dec 08 - Cached
  • Brian G. Dowling on 28 Dec 08
     
    Recent changes in the global economy make this even more of a challenge and it shows even when we do make progress it only increases our responsibility.
  • Brian G. Dowling on 28 Dec 08
     
    South Asia: Economic Growth and Inequality Facts South Asia Can Cut Poverty by Two Thirds in a Decade Report Despite obstacles such as conflict, corruption and high fiscal deficits in some countries, South Asia has achieved impressive economic growth and poverty reduction in the past decade, thanks mainly to economic reforms in the 1990s. If this growth accelerates to 10 percent a year, the region could see single-digit poverty rates by 2015. A closer look at the evidence suggests that much remains to be done to achieve these accelerated growth rates. These challenges require increasing investment, productivity, and the quality of labor, while addressing the problem of lagging regions and poor service delivery. South Asia can also benefit from regional cooperation in trade, water and energy, among other things.
Brian G. Dowling

Microlending and Microfinance Organization - 0 views

www.accion.org/Page.aspx

women growth 1425 MDG3 economics microlending microfinance poverty bloggersunite millennium development goals development

shared by Brian G. Dowling on 06 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Brian G. Dowling on 06 Mar 10
     
    About Our Organization We invite you to explore the following pages to learn more about ACCION's leadership - men and women at the forefront of the microfinance industry - whose energy and enthusiasm are behind our every effort in the fight against poverty. In addition to our Board of Directors and Management Team, ACCION is fortunate to count among its leadership ranks the President's Council and Women's Leadership Network - all dedicated supporters who lend their financial and professional resources to ACCION's mission. Featured in a post bit.ly/aCzznX supporting S1425 GROWTH http://bit.ly/bb1oEI
Benno Hansen

Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People -- Godfray et al. 327 (5967): ... - 2 views

www.sciencemag.org/...812

food agriculture poverty

shared by Benno Hansen on 23 Feb 10 - Cached
  • more than one in seven people today still do not have access to sufficient protein and energy from their diet, and even more suffer from some form of micronutrient malnourishment
  • Increases in production will have an important part to play, but they will be constrained as never before by the finite resources provided by Earth’s lands, oceans, and atmosphere
  • a period of rising and more volatile food prices driven primarily by increased demand from rapidly developing countries, as well as by competition for resources from first-generation biofuels production
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • agricultural land that was formerly productive has been lost to urbanization and other human uses, as well as to desertification, salinization, soil erosion, and other consequences of unsustainable land management
  • the world will need 70 to 100% more food by 2050
  • Low yields occur because of technical constraints that prevent local food producers from increasing productivity or for economic reasons arising from market conditions.
  • In the most extreme cases of failed states and nonfunctioning markets, the solution lies completely outside the food system.
  • Food production in developing countries can be severely affected by market interventions in the developed world, such as subsidies or price supports.
  • the environmental costs of food production might increase with globalization, for example, because of increased greenhouse gas emissions associated with increased production and food transport
  • Food production has important negative "externalities," namely effects on the environment or economy that are not reflected in the cost of food.
  • superior technologies may become available and that future generations may be wealthier
  • The introduction of measures to promote sustainability does not necessarily reduce yields or profits. One study of 286 agricultural sustainability projects in developing countries, involving 12.6 million chiefly small-holder farmers on 37 million hectares, found an average yield increase of 79% across a very wide variety of systems and crop types
  • Unexploited genetic material from land races, rare breeds, and wild relatives will be important in allowing breeders to respond to new challenges
  • Fair returns on investment are essential for the proper functioning of the private sector, but the extension of the protection of intellectual property rights to biotechnology has led to a growing public perception in some countries that biotech research purely benefits commercial interests and offers no long-term public good. Just as seriously, it also led to a virtual monopoly of GM traits in some parts of the world, by a restricted number of companies, which limits innovation and investment in the technology.
  • Roughly 30 to 40% of food in both the developed and developing worlds is lost to waste
  • unwanted food goes to a landfill instead of being used as animal feed or compost because of legislation to control prion diseases
  • retailers discard many edible, yet only slightly blemished products
  • In the developing world, losses are mainly attributable to the absence of food-chain infrastructure
  • About one-third of global cereal production is fed to animals
  • the argument that all meat consumption is bad is overly simplistic
  • There is no simple solution to sustainably feeding 9 billion people
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