F&D MAGAZINE(Credit: PIDJOE) For at least 150 years, global economic forces have by turns pulled countries closer together and pushed them farther apart—and today we may be at another turning point in globalization’s history, the IMF’s Adam Jakubik and Elizabeth Van Heuvelen write in F&D magazine’s Back to Basics series. In this explainer, the authors summarize the main characteristics of globalization and how it has developed over the years. They also examine globalization’s pros and cons, and what can be done to spread its benefits more widely. Also check out our video on globalization. F&D’s Back to Basics series explains basic economic concepts for the non-specialist. More than 70 articles and videos focus on relevant topics making the headlines and provide a better understanding of how economic issues can affect our daily lives. View our archives here. The world has changed markedly since the IMF was founded 80 years ago. In F&D’s June issue, we explore how the IMF can adapt to remain effective. Authors include Kristalina Georgieva, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Raghuram Rajan, Mia Amor Mottley, William Ruto, Pablo García-Silva, Harold James, Martin Wolf, Adam S. Posen, Edwin M. Truman, Masood Ahmed, Axel A. Weber, Anna Postelnyak, Réka Juhász, Nathan Lane, Mark Aguiar, James M. Boughton, Atish Rex Ghosh, Andrew Stanley, Adam Jakubik, Elizabeth Van Heuvelen, Henny Sender, Melinda Weir, Vivek Arora, Douglas A. Irwin, and Lisa Kolovich. Weekly RoundupSTAFF PAPERFood security remains an important development goal in Africa, a region where one in five people were chronically undernourished and 24 percent of the people were acutely food insecure in 2023 (FAO et al., 2023). Beyond the production and availability of food, a range of market frictions (such as bottlenecks to market access and transport infrastructure gaps) can impede the continuous supply of safe, sufficient, affordable, and nutritious food, with disproportionate negative effects on households at the lower end of the income distribution. However, the rapid uptake of mobile phones and broadband internet in Africa, which contributed to a wider adoption of digital technologies, has the potential of facilitating the market access of food products, and thereby improve food security This new staff paper analyzes how digital technology adoption shapes the productivity of small-scale businesses in the grains and legumes markets. STAFF PAPERIn recent years, academics and policymakers have proposed to reconsider controls on cross-border capital flows as a potentially useful stabilization device. By and large, developments in this direction reflect shifting views about capital inflows and research findings indicating that, under some circumstances, it may be socially beneficial to impose controls to curb excessive foreign borrowing. The authors of a new IMF staff paper study capital controls on outflows (CCOs) in situations of macroeconomic and financial distress, and present novel empirical evidence indicating that CCO implementation is associated with crises and declines in GDP growth. The authors then develop a theoretical framework that is consistent with such empirical findings and also yields policy and welfare lessons. |