development

The Redistributive Agenda of the New International Economic Order, and How the IMF Thwarted It

by Sarah Babb

Henry Kissinger responded diplomatically to demands from Third World nations for changes in trade and investment rules to alleviate inequality with a pragmatic approach that recognized inequality as a major issue, but prevented poor nations from forming a united front or organizing around their more radical demands. 

In Praise of Possibility

by Michele Alacevich

Albert O. Hirschman's approach to development economics stressed the need to understand "hidden rationalities" of developing societies and use them to create change.

Does New York Still Want to Be the Capital of the World?

by Kenneth T. Jackson

Local development politics threaten a development in lower Manhattan, an example of the difficulty in building affordable housing that threatens the city's vitality.   

The Prosperity Hoax

A 2020 report on global poverty suggests that the problem is getting worse, directly attacking the methodologies the World Bank has used for decades to justify global capitalism as an anti-poverty program. 

Study: Development aid began in the colonial era, not in the Cold War

Concepts of modern development aid have been inherited from Europe's colonialist era and thus have their roots much further in the past than has been thought till now. This is the outcome of a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF whose report was recently published in the book "Developing Africa."

Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore: False Historical Consciousness

Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore is an editor at Time Out Beijing.BEIJING — My courtyard home in the heart of old Beijing has a view of the Drum Tower, which for centuries helped citizens keep track of the time.The tower still rolls its drums daily for tourists. But over the past few weeks a different rumbling could be heard in the public square where it stands: the sound of sledgehammers knocking down surrounding buildings.For years, the government has proposed leveling the zone around the Drum Tower and the neighboring Bell Tower, known in Chinese as Gulou and Zhonglou, respectively. In 2010, local media reported that except for the two towers, the area, a maze of snaking hutong alleyways and ramshackle courtyard homes, would be demolished to make way for a new “Beijing Time Cultural City” and underground mall.That did not come to pass. But in late 2012, the government posted new notices ordering local businesses and residents to vacate by Feb. 24. My home, which is one hutong down from the square, will be spared, but dozens are slated for destruction. Many residents have already left; those who have stayed are demanding more compensation....