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University of Chicago Booth School of Business: Questioning the Economic Effects of a Booming Real Estate Market
Strong house price growth fuels economic activity during expansions, and the ensuing slowdown in housing often precipitates severe crashes. Almost every severe economic downturn in advanced economies over the past 85 years was preceded by a real estate boom: Among
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Africa Awakening: A Continent on the Rise
The time for Africa is now. The continent is rising to unexpected heights as wars have ended and humanitarian crises subsided. Afro-pessimism – the deeply-rooted notion that Africa was essentially without hope – has suddenly been replaced with almost boundless
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UNCDF: Enabling Transformation – Investing in the Local Needs of Women
In 1990, in the first Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Pakistani economist Mahbub Ul Haq wrote, “The real wealth of a nation is its people. And the purpose of development is to create an enabling
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World Investment Forum: Seeking Ways to Unlock the Idle Trillions
As the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, business and government leaders from across the world gathered this week in Geneva for the biennial World Investment Forum (WIF). The UNCTAD-sponsored four-day event brought together
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Nigerian Stock Exchange: Corporate Governance to Reign Supreme
The buoyant Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), with well over two hundred listed securities representing a total market capitalisation in excess of $80bn (equities), is set to become the destination of choice for both investors and companies looking to raise capital,
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Sustainable Stock Exchanges: Urgent Need for Simple Metrics
The 4th biennial Global Dialogue on the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, concluded yesterday (10/14) at the United Nations Geneva headquarters, unveiled the urgent need for all stakeholders – stock exchanges, regulators, investors, and businesses – to adopt simple, yet
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Sustainable Stock Exchanges: The Relevance of Green Indices
At the fourth Global Dialogue of Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE) Initiative, last Tuesday in Geneva, Nasdaq OMX vice-chairman Meyer “Sandy” Frucher livened up discussions by spelling out a few hard-hitting truths. Though delivered in way that elicited chuckles from the
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WIF: Start-Up Democracy Tunisia Steals the Show
Interim Prime-Minister Mehdi Jomâa of Tunisia has offered to host the next World Investment Forum (WIF), scheduled to take place two years from now. In Geneva for the 2014 WIF, an event organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade
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World Bank Group: Can Resource-Financed Infrastructure Fix the Natural Resource Curse?
By Håvard Halland, John Beardsworth, Bryan Land, and James Schmidt How can resource-rich countries ensure that a sufficiently large share of oil, gas, and mining revenues are used for productive investment rather than excessive or wasteful consumption? “Resource-financed infrastructure” (RFI)
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Zambia Set to Impress and Welcome Investors
Zambia has seen foreign direct investment (FDI) increase significantly to well over $1bn in 2013 – up 31% over the previous year. The number of projects receiving capital investment from outside the country went up as well. Greenfield investment in
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