Global investment institutions Flashcards
Outline the World Bank, what it does and who/how many it employs
-Promotes economic development in developing countries (NEE’s & LIC’s)
-Provide long term investment loans of development projects to reduce poverty
–> IDA (International Development Association) provides interest free loans to countries with less than $865 GNI per capita
-Encourages start-up enterprises in NEE’s
-Acquires financial resources from borrowing in the international bond market
-Employ 7000 staff from 185 countries and elects American president
Outline International Monetary Fund (IMF)
-Oversees global finance
-Provides loans to prevent global economic crisis / ‘Lender of last resort’
-Draws financial resources from quota subscriptions from members
-Offers financial & technical advice to members
-2,300 staff from185 member countries and elects European managing directors
What are some criticisms of the IMF and World bank?
-Some argue that the loans provided by the World Bank and IMF can lead to a cycle of debt dependency due to countries struggling to pay back loans with high interest rates, exacerbating economic instability.
-The IMF and World bank have been accused of prioritising economic growth over environmental concerns, possibly causing environmental degradation
-Critics argue that the IMF and World bank policies do not always consider the unique circumstances and needs of individual countries
Outline the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
The WTO deals with global rules of trade between nations.
WTO is responsible for:
-Supervise and liberalise trade by reducing barriers
-Act as arbitrator sorting out trade issues between members
-Negotiate to reach agreements that become legal ground for international commerce
-Has over 160 members (over 3/4 of these or developing and developed countries)
Outline the Doha Development agenda(DDA) by the WTO
The Doha development agenda (DDA) aimed to reform the trade of agricultural produce (Particularly between advanced and developing economies). –> DDA aimed to achieve a 30% reduction in tariffs and subsidies with the aim of improving trade for developing nations.
Outline the failures of the DDA
The DDA did not work because advanced nations (USA, EU & Japan) insisted that in return for reducing their subsidies and tariffs that the developing nations open up their markets to Western manufactured goods.
Additionally, developing nations wanted larger cuts to subsidies and tariffs in the EU and USA.
Consequently, a deal could not be agreed and the agenda collapsed in Geneva
Alternatively, Outline how the WTO have been successful
A year after the DDA collapsed, A bilateral agreement was reached in Geneva between the EU and Latin American countries to end long standing dispute about banana trade.
Additionally, in 2013 in Bali, the WTO achieved its first multilateral agreement in almost 20 years with the Bali package. Which was an agreement between all 159 WTO members on ‘trade facilitation’ –> measures to speed up movement of trade and to remove red tape in customs procedures to reduce costs.
Outline the IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change
Outline criticisms of the IPCC
-IPCC can only provide assessments and recommendations
–> it lacks the power to enforce polices or actions
-Converting scientific findings into policies is quite difficult
-Some stakeholders believe that the current pace of action is insufficient to address the crisis
Outline successes of the IPCC
-Raising global awareness of Climate change, helping to convince governments to act
-Has influenced climate policies and negotiations. For example the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement
