CGD's weekly Global Prosperity Wonkcast, event videos, whiteboard talks, slides, and more.
President Sirleaf, the first woman to be elected head of state in Africa, provides her perspective on the role the private sector can play in Liberia and in emerging Africa more broadly. Todd Moss moderates a question and answer session after the president’s speech.
For now, the future for Latin America looks bright. Confidence is high throughout the region after a strong rebound from the global financial crisis. But large and possibly volatile inflows of capital could lead to a credit bubble if regulators don’t take steps now to slow the large flood of hot money. In this edition of the Wonkcast I interview three members of the Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (CLAAF), a group prominent South American economists who meet twice yearly to offer advice to the region’s regulators and policymakers. Our focus is the group’s latest statement, which urges unconventional measures for extraordinary times.
My guest on this show is Amanda Glassman, research fellow and director of CGD’s Global Health Program. I recorded this Wonkcast with her last week, just ahead of the first pledging session for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI).
GAVI is a coalition of private foundations and donor country governments who work to increase the availability of vaccines, a highly cost-effective health intervention that is chronically under provided. Among other mechanisms, GAVI buys the vaccines at discount by purchasing in bulk, then passes the savings onto poor countries and expanding coverage. Over the past 10 years, GAVI estimates it has saved 5 million children from vaccine vaccine-preventable diseases, an accomplishment which Amanda considers to be remarkable.
Fallout from the killing of Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town has prompted an anxious reassessment of all facets of the complex, troubled alliance between the United States and Pakistan. A new report from CGD’s Study Group on U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan shines light on a crucial and too-often neglected aspect of the relationship: the aid, trade and investment policies that constitute America’s effort to support Pakistan’s development.
When a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti last year the U.S. government and public moved quickly to aid the survivors. The response was swift and compassionate. But America did not do something simple and low-cost that could have helped the survivors of this horrible event. It did not crack open the door and admit a small number of them to the United States.
On this week’s Wonkcast, I’m joined by senior fellow Michael Clemens to discuss why US immigration policy should be part of the United States’ official humanitarian response to natural disasters. Michael, who leads CGD’s work on migration and development, recently commissioned a working paper to figure out what if anything can be done to open a channel for limited numbers of disaster refugees to enter the United States.