International Monetary Fund

Evidence from Ghana and reports from Sri Lanka indicate that the International Monetary Fund has introduced a new condition—reduction through the restructuring of domestic sovereign debt—into its adjustment toolkit for countries facing external debt stress. This tendency to blur the distinction between domestic and external debt has major implications, and amounts to imposing measures that enforce a new and additional form of debilitating austerity on these countries.

Large grain stocks hold the key to greater food security.

This study examines technology diffusion resulting from foreign direct investment in the domestic manufacturing sector in India, by employing unit-level panel data from 2000 to 2007, covering all medium- and large-size manufacturing enterprises. The attempt is to empirically capture evidence of FDI technology spillover effects through two key mechanisms: horizontal spillover and vertical spillover. Vertical spillover effects can be further divided into backward linkages and forward linkages. Technology diffusion can also be the result of both short- and long-term spillover effects.

The government must reimagine the fundamentals of the economy in favour of equality.

The recent decision of the United States to impose punitive tariffs on imports from China and the European Union, and the retaliation of these trade partners in tandem, is of concern to the global community. In analysing these contemporary events, it is argued that the genesis of the trade war can potentially be traced to the piling up of global imbalances, and the failure of the global financial institutions or fora—like the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund—to address such imbalances. In such a context, whether the emerging economies have the ability to influence the course and outcomes of the current trade war, and whether this trade war can generate the possibility of reform of the international institutions are explored here.