For over 60 years, Western countries have continuously adjusted their foreign aid programs, often responding to changes in the international context (such as the end of the Cold War) or to new understandings of how best to achieve lasting results. At other times, though, donor countries’ new aid policies follow changes in domestic politics and the ideology of ruling parties, sometimes reverting to practices that closely resemble ones that had been rejected in the past The following article traces the evolution in Canadian foreign aid since 2000 and unpacks two key concepts in development assistance more generally: aid effectiveness and policy coherence. Though it focuses on Canada, the discussion is relevant for other aid donors as well.
Smaller Cities Embrace Smart Specialisation – The Exeter Success Story
By Richard Ball
Governments have recognised that cities are engines of growth critical to economic performance and national recovery in the current climate. The large conurbations naturally make the headlines as the “core” cities receiving support towards economic development, but there are smaller cities, which are comparatively and proportionately for their size, punching “well above their weight” where people work, trade and innovate in exciting organisations directly driving significant economic growth. Some have seen very impressive employment growth over the last decade and have bucked the trend in terms of recession forecasts with a credible track record of job creation, business formation and survival.
Implementing Smarter Cities Through Better Governance
By Joan Enric Ricart, Pascual Berrone, Juan Manuel Barrionuevo & Asun Cano Escoriaza
Urban areas are facing great challenges as their socio-economic environments constantly change, their population increases and the competition with other urban areas strengthens. In order to respond to these challenges, cities need better governance and thus better implementation strategies if they want to prosper.. The authors argue that urban strategies can be made more efficient if the six levers of change are taken into account. Adopting this “smart governance” approach can help cities in the implementation of their path towards success.
The Impact of Hedge Fund Regulation: An International Perspective
By Douglas Cumming, Na Dai & Sofia Johan
The success of a hedge fund relies on more than just internal structure and governance. The jurisdiction in which a hedge fund operates will also have a considerable influence on its performance. This article, based on the book Hedge Fund Governance, Regulation and Performance around the World, considers the international differences in the interplay between hedge funds and hedge fund regulations.
Fair Lending Compliance for Mortgage Lenders – An International Concern
Both the U.S. and the European Union are addressing the problems believed to have created the financial crisis by heightening consumer protection in the mortgage lending sector. Regulations such as the Dodd-Frank Act (U.S.) and the European Standardised Information Sheet focus on the consumer’s ability to repay and hope to strengthen the cross-border market for mortgages.
Confronting the New Reality: Globalisation, the Global Financial Crisis and the State
Globalisation and the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) have presented major challenges to orthodoxy. John Farrar and David Mayes discuss the implications of these challenges for the role of the state across the globe and argue that it is high time to confront our theory with reality.
March – April 2013
Finance
Can Financial Innovations Mitigate Civil and Ethnic Conflict?
Saumitra Jha
Can Financial Innovations Mitigate Civil and Ethnic Conflict?
Saumitra Jha
Mortgage Lending Solutions for Troubled Markets
Anna DeSimone
Global Economy
How the Great Moderation Became a (Contained) Depression and What to Do About It
Barry Z. Cynamon, Steven M. Fazzari & Mark Setterfield
Governance of International Banking: The Financial Trilemma
Dirk Schoenmaker
Trade Imbalances and the Global Financial Crisis
Michael Pettis
Business
What Is Global Leadership?
Sebastian Reiche, Mark E. Mendenhall, Allan Bird, & Joyce S. Osland
Sustainability
The Role of Urban Spaces in the Creation of Value
Martha Schwartz
Corporate Social Responsibility Does Not Avert the Tragedy of the Commons – Case Study: Coca-Cola India
Aneel Karnani
China
A Tale of Two Games: Global Strategies of Multinational Companies in China’s E-commerce Market
Xin Wang & Justin Ren
A Tale of Two Games: Global Strategies of Multinational Companies in China’s E-commerce Market
Xin Wang & Justin Ren
Technology
Law and the Technologies of the Twenty-First Century
Roger Brownsword & Morag Goodwin
Reimagining Enterprise IT for an Uncertain Future
Jeanne G. Harris, Allan E. Alter, Stéphane J.G. Girod & Iris A. Junglas
Lifestyle
Which Global Luxury Trends for the Coming Years?
Jeanne G. Harris, Allan E. Alter, Stéphane J.G. Girod & Iris A. Junglas
Social Media Change the Name of the Game in the Tourismand Hospitality Industries
Ulrike Gretzel, Marianna Sigala & Evangelos Christou
Trade Imbalances and the Global Financial Crisis
The source of the global crisis through which we are living can be found in the great trade and capital flow imbalances of the past decade or two. Unfortunately because balance of payments mechanisms are so poorly understood, much of the debate about the crisis is caught up in muddled analysis.
Governance of International Banking: The Financial Trilemma
International banking is at the cross-roads. Are we heading for the decentralised banking model, by which banks are split in national subsidiaries supervised by national supervisors? Or can we maintain the integrated business model for international banks? In a new book on Governance of International Banking, published by Oxford University Press, the author Dirk Schoenmaker explores the trade-offs between internationally active banks and national supervision.
EDITOR'S PICK OF THE WEEK
The Performance and Transformation Orchestrator: The CFO’s New Mandate in the Age of AI
By Terence Tse
CFOs are evolving into AI-driven transformation orchestrators, balancing finance, technology, and strategy while upskilling teams, managing risks, and driving measurable business value.
A key insight from this year’s AI for CFOs event, organized...
