National delegations and practitioners gathering in Seville, Spain, for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development face a sobering reality: Much of the developing world is in the midst of a deepening, multifaceted crisis. Major problems such as hunger, disease, economic fragility, climate vulnerability, underfunded education systems, poor infrastructure, and persistent joblessness remain – not for lack of solutions, but for lack of political will and basic human solidarity. https://thewire.in/economy/how-to-solve-the-development-crisis-with-quality-finance
developing countries suffer from chronic underinvestment in innovation, education, and infrastructure. Growth cycles are repeatedly cut short by crises and austerity, triggering a vicious cycle of stagnation and weakened state capacity. And efforts to fund public institutions and promote development are usually further undercut by illicit financial flows, tax avoidance, under-taxation of multinationals’ profits, unfair extraction of natural resources, and large-scale dividend repatriation.
To help break the cycle, particularly concerning debt, we and more than 30 other economists and legal experts contributed to the Jubilee Report that was commissioned by the late Pope Francis and recently published by the Vatican. The report offers a road map for addressing the current debt and development crisis and, critically, for preventing future ones. Though it calls for coordinated reforms of multilateral institutions, sovereign jurisdictions, and domestic governments, the core message is simple: If poor and developing countries are to transform their economies and fulfil their development ambitions, they need access to high-quality financing.
by Martín Guzmán, Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi and Joseph E. Stiglitz