PSIA Newsletter # 5 – New Rules for Global Finance Coalition

PSIA Newsletter # 5

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Dear colleagues,

This fifth newsletter provides an update on the Exante Poverty Impact Assessment of Macroeconomic Policies (EPIAM) work program and contains some announcements of related workshops, books, and papers.

Part I: Case Studies

Thanks to a generous grant from the International Development Research Center (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada, the New Rules for Global Finance Coalition will undertake five Case Studies on Lessons from Experiences with Exante Poverty Impact Assessments of Macroeconomic Policies in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ghana, the Philippines, and Senegal. The five researchers who will carry out the five case studies over the next 8 to 12 months are Nicholas Adamtey (Ghana), Caesar Cororaton (the Philippines), Abdoulaye Diagne (Senegal), Samuel Fambon (Cameroon), and Mustafa Mujeri (Bangladesh).

Part II: Research Competition

The New Rules for Global Finance Coalition is launching an international research competition on issues related to the Exante Poverty Impact Assessment of Macroeconomic Policies (EPIAM) in low-income countries. Submissions are due by May 31, 2004. Click here full details on submissions, eligibility, and honoraria.

Part III: Announcements

1) International Conference on African Development and Poverty Reduction – The Macro-Micro Linkage: October 13-15, 2004; Cape Town, South Africa. Hosted by the University of Cape Town’s Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) and Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) in association with Cornell University, this conference will consider evidence-based policy recommendations on trade and investment that stem from analysis of macro-micro linkages in the African context. For more information contact DPRU:

Tel: +27-21-650-5705;

fax: +27-21-650-5711;

e-mail:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ;

Internet: http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/dpru/dpruconference2004/default.htm

2) The IDEAS (International Development Economics Associates) Network has just posted a new and interesting study on: Macroeconomic Policies, Income Inequality and Poverty: Uzbekistan, 1991- 2002 by Giovanni Andrea Cornia. [This paper examines the macroeconomic policies taken in Uzbekistan and its impact on income inequality and poverty during the period 1991-2002.] Full paper available at: http://www.ideaswebsite.org/featart/mar2004/fa19_Uzbekistan_1991_2002.htm

3) New: WIDER publications on growth, inequality, and poverty:

  • Growth, Inequality and Poverty: Prospects for Pro-Poor Economic Development, edited by Anthony Shorrocks and Rolph van der Hoeven, WIDER Studies in Development Economics; Oxford University Press.
  • Perspectives on Growth and Poverty, edited by Rolph van der Hoeven and Anthony Shorrocks, United Nations University Press.
  • Growth and Poverty in an Era of Liberalization and Globalization, edited by Giovanni Andrea Cornia, WIDER Studies in Development Economics; Oxford University Press.

4) Just published: Trade Liberalization and Poverty: The Evidence So Far (by L. Alan Winters, Neil McCulloch, and Andrew McKay), Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 42, No. 1 (March 2004), pp. 72-115. [This comprehensive review is slightly more critical than the mainstream view and worth reading. While it concludes that there can be no simple general conclusion about the relationship between trade liberalization and poverty, it also concludes that “with care, trade liberalization can be an important component of a pro-poor development strategy.”]

5) The World Bank has produced a PREM Note on the gender-differentiated impacts of public sector downsizing. It is called “Minimizing Negative Distributional Effects of Public Sector Downsizing” and can be accessed at: http://www1.worldbank.org/prem/PREMNotes/premnote84.pdf

Also: The Downsizing Options Simulation Exercise (DOSE) tool, developed by Martin Rama, has also been modified recently to make it gender-sensitive. The updated tool can be accessed at the following site: http://www.worldbank.org/research/projects/downsize/index.htm

Best regards,

Bernhard G. Gunter, Ph.D.

EPIAM Project Director

E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Exante Poverty Impact Assessment of Macroeconomic Policies (EPIAM):

Tools, Capacity, and Participation

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.

EPIAM, PIA