PSIA Newsletter # 2
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Newsletter #2
Dear colleagues,
The last few months were less productive for the EPIAM project than desired, though some progress has been made and more is in progress.
Meetings with IMF and World Bank Executive Directors
Since the last EPIAM newsletter, I had contacted all IMF and World Bank (ED) Executive Directors about the EPIAM Project. Nine EDs and one Alternate ED replied and met with me to discuss the project’s goal and agenda. While a more detailed Summing-Up of the ten meetings is in progress, eight EDs/AEDs welcomed EPIAM as a timely initiative and expressed their support for EPIAM. One ED/AED thought that it might be more useful to concentrate solely on fiscal policies and one ED/AED was skeptical due to theoretical and practical constraints in assessing the impact of macroeconomic policies on poverty.
Terms of References for Working Group and Advisory Board
While a variety of researchers indicated their interest to make suggestions on such terms of references and a possible work program, time and weather constraints pushed the agenda back. Given the difficulties experienced, I will try to draft such terms of references, which can then be discussed and revised. However, any suggestion remains welcome.
EPIAM Workshop
Plans for an EPIAM Workshop have progressed. It is now planned for April 2003; more information on this will be sent as soon as it is available.
World Bank Toolkit
Building on recently developed tools to evaluate the poverty and distributional impact of economic policy choices, the World Bank has now launched a Toolkit website: http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/psia/tools.htm. It assembles best practices and a description of the most robust available methods and tools for Poverty and Social Impact Analysis. While this constitutes a huge step forward, there remains a gap in assessing the complexities and interdependencies of macroeconomic policies, especially with regards to the environmental and international dimensions of macroeconomic policies.
“Making Global Trade Work for People”
(Copied from WB PovertyNet Newsletter #51 February 2003)
The book “Making Global Trade Work for People”, prepared by a group of international experts with the support of UNDP, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation and the Wallace Global Foundation, was launched this month. The publication presents a reassessment of the current multilateral trade regime. It examines in detail the workings of the trade system under the World Trade Organization, tracing its origins from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. It also analyzes how the system can work better for developing countries and contribute to global efforts to reduce poverty. The book is available in pdf format at: http://www.undp.org/mainundp/propoor/publications.htm
Best regards,
Bernhard G. Gunter
EPIAM Project Director
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
EPIAM: Standards, Methodologies and Tools for the Exante Poverty Impact Assessment of Macroeconomic Policies.
A Project initiated by the New Rules for Global Finance Coalition.
Please see http://www.new-rules.org/what-we-do/macroeconomic-policy-impact-analysis for more details.